Friday, January 23, 2009

Legal Torture

[The later sonnettes of the unknown poet of the Third Galaxy are often direct as well as cryptic -- the couplet which introduces the sonnette is apparently his]

When torture is legal, the eagle grins
and without hope, without end -- the nightmare begins...

Legality was then seen to be
a luxury which we could ill afford.

The authority of our democracy
was then given to the Security Boards
who met secretly in soundproofed rooms,
rooms which many entered but few returned.

Across the land there settled a restless gloom
as the canker of security slowly burned
into the soul of our once fair nation,
something ugly and evil, a horror to see.

In fact, at the height of the terrible conflagration,
torture was shown on national tee-vee,
live, on prime time, from coast to coast,
"...and without commercial breaks!", announced the host.

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