Tears for Henry

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

Tears for Henry

 

The man who toppled Salvador Allende

The man who championed dictatorship

The man who won a Nobel Peace Prize

For carpet bombing Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam

The man who never saw a strongman he didn’t love

The man who held Nixon’s hand through

The sorry days of Watergate

The man who said we should never let an election

Stand in the way of our interests

The man who was in love with power

The man who tried to forge an empire

 

He died today at the round age of one hundred

One wonders if he negotiated a deal with the reaper

How many lives for one old man?

Shall we shed a tear for Henry?

How many tears did he shed for Chile?

How many for Argentina?

How many tears for Southeast Asia?

How many for the innocents lost?

 

I am sorry for his family

I’m sorry for those who loved him

I’m sorry for those who fell to his diplomatic sword

But I have no tears for Henry

He was and always will be a war criminal

A man without a heart