YEARS ZERO

It had not coursed through their blood,
     Though pumped forth in '48
From deepest wells in full flood,
     When the Arabs began to hate.

They were not easily moved,
     In trusting patience they'd wait
Till every fraud should be proved,
     'Ere the Arabs began to hate.

Their clamour rose steady and slow,
     Their pleas were simple and straight.
We spied no warning nor show,
     When the Arabs began to hate.

Not, at first, preached to the crowd,
     Not, at first, taught by the State,
Yet young men spoke it aloud,
     When the Arabs began to hate.

It was not suddenly bred,
     It will not slowly abate,
Through New AC* years ahead,
     When Time shall count from the date
     That the Arabs began to hate.

                    (Apologies to Rudyard Kipling)


*The New American Century, the name of the neo-conservative Project
behind the Bush presidency.