Lawrence Hall
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https://hellopoetry.com/lawrence-hall/
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com

                                     ­  Bagram Air Base

                                      Shelley was Right

I met a veteran from an antique land,
Who said – “A looted fortress of concrete
Stands in the desert...Near it, on the sand,
Half sunk lies a computerized spreadsheet

Whose clever numbers and totaled-up tallies
Tell that our keyboard commanders well read
The shifting winds in political rallies
(Never mind an accurate count of the dead)

And on the side of a wrecked deuce-and-a-half:
My name is Builder of Democracies;
Look upon my Works, ye Mighty – and laugh!
The well-built airbase remains yet today

To that colossal base still standing there
The Chinese army speeds from far away.”