Forty-seven more dead yesterday

But let us not say. 

Words rubbed so raw with facts 

Offend intelligence,

Fall rank and flat on dull heads.

But these birds with no wings!

These elephants with no trunks!

What of these storks with baby bundles of bodies?

All these deformed four-leggeds in tiny rooms?

And all we see are geese with golden eggs,

American eagles and blue angels 

Bringing home some so-called life

From the depths of Enduring Freedom

Where wings are clipped 

And souls are caged.