The Noble Art of Treachery

To defeat one’s mortal enemy,
Approach him as a friend
And speak the honeyed words of peace
And fawn and twist and bend.
In time, once his guard is down
And slower to defend,
Then draw him even closer still
With bridges on the mend.

Confuse with favoured trading rights,
And treaties by the tome,
And offer cunning compromise
Beneath his pleasure dome
By breaking bread instead of bones,
And quoting “when in Rome…”,
And beating ploughshares from your swords
To bring his harvest home.

And waiting for the trap to spring,
He will not understand
You sprung it years ago, back when
You shook him by the hand –
And now he’s caged by friendship
With no anger to command,
As your lovers take his city
And your children work his land.

But best of all, he cannot strike you back,
He is too late –
For now his precious kin are settled
All throughout your state –
For he has also conquered
When he opened up his gate,
And now can only sit and watch
His people grow-up great.

World War 3-D

The US is champing and Russia is frothing,
The EU is braying and China is scoffing,
Iran ululates and Israel kvetches,
And nobody thinks of the innocent wretches.
So crank up the ante and settle the score,
Yippey, it’s a proxygen war !

With Japanese raving and Indians drooling,
With peasants revolting, the lords overruling,
With Saudis denouncing and Vaticans cursing,
The banks and the gangsters each tighten a purse-string,
Kalashnikovs rattle and howitzers roar,
Yee-ha, it’s a prog-rocking war !

Got to keep those pinko yellow rednecks in the black,
Got to stick those selfless noble heroes in the back –
So pick a side and roll the dice,
And carve yourself a bigger slice –
It won’t be you who pays the price,
As long as you attack.

The oil is stolen, the pipeline is shafted,
The min’rals are worked and the workers are drafted,
The diamonds are blooded, the rubies are spies
For the gold in their teeth and the steel in their eyes –
So give to the rich as we take from the poor.
Olé, it’s a hamburger war !

The deserts are flooded, the icecaps are vapour,
The oceans are plastic, the forests are paper,
The vegans are cowed and the pacifists violent,
The media meddles, the movies are silent,
The public are jaded, they’re seen it before –
Achtung, it’s a hand-me-down war !

Got to keep those dirty commie fascist lib’rals down,
Got to kick those native ethnic locals out of town
So pick a side and make your play,
They’re only lives we throw away –
We’ll laugh about this war some day,
When memories turn brown.