What savage spite, what hate obscene
Did Allah feel for Bus Nineteen?

Did Jewish babies in those seats
Inspire dreadful blood-red sheets?

The imam viewed the faces fair
And yet ignited heartache there

This vicious fiend, this sick shaheed
Invoked his god to do the deed

O cult so foul, O creed so vile
To smash, to dash a baby's smile

No God delights to hear those screams
But Allah's men collude such schemes

To strike the weak, to kill the frail,
The Muslim coward loves the wail

Of children's shrieks, of mothers' moans
What perverse god breaks infant bones?

Cruel hoodlum thug, this god reviled
Who shatters youth and slays the child

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Trumpet Sounds 8/22/03
Listen to author's reading of this poem