Sonnet of Sorrows

We remember the falling down, the smoke.
We sang "God Bless America" and cried.
We remember all the great words they spoke,
They whispered of the common yoke. They lied.

There were dark thoughts, secrets they did not share.
To play the game, they talked in double speak.
They hid the facts. The truth they did not dare.
This time... they did not turn the other cheek.

What was the better way? I do not know.
We did not show our cards; we lost our way.
Still, had we trumped with truth, a caustic blow,
would not the timid world still make us pay?

For Bin Laden's crime, the knock at the door,
was only prelude to a wider war.