A flag unfurled and fluttered
atop the mast on a sacred day.

Saluting men recalled
many a sacrifice noble
of their forebears upright
whose lifetime had passed
in nation’s great employ
and the ‘isms’ they had stood for
-secular and socialistic-
had entered the Book of books,
whereby the state now swears.

Scissor the sheet of water
as much as you can,
never can it be split.
Men of the sod will seldom
disunite even under duress-
these men in chorus did affirm.

Elsewhere, children suckled
at mother’s bosom emaciated;
droplets of blood oozed
which they, true to instinct, spurned.

Over the slums
fat falcons flew.

Rats that had sneaked
in search of eatables
scurried out disappointed.