Poetry

Peg Hunter photo

By

Ben White

Betrayal and Shame

I wish Pancho Villa

Was still here

To see the concertina wire

Rolled out along the border,

And to scoff at its futility

As he rides up to lasso the barbs

And drag that mess

Into the desert –

And since America isn’t stationed

In the trenches

Like German-supported federales

Prepared to machine gun him down,

This time the simple cavalry trick

Will work, and he will

Get away with it,

And in Columbus,

His revolutionary spirit

Of independence

Will echo off

The barracks walls again

Recalling another episode

Of American betrayal –

I wish Pancho Villa

Was still here

Riding the trail…

But then again

I’m glad he isn’t,

Because his presence

Would only be

Another reminder,

And I am already

Hanging my head

In shame

For what my country is doing.

Ben White

Author of the books, Buddha Bastinado Blues and The Kill Gene, Ben White thought he was a poet, only to find out he is not a poet at all. He is a witness. What he writes is testimony.