Bashar

The ophthalmologist picked up and fled
with just his credit cards, and trophy wife.
He'd watched Qaddafi hunted, beaten, dead...
and leapt to barter honor for his life.
The heir apparent jousted with a truck;
mismatching masses, vast momentum won.
Succession settled on one day's bad luck
this chinless understudy for a son.
In Moscow, worn out puppets cool their heels
they polish Putin's boots, and sing his praise.
Re'ssuring him the people's love is real
as if they're wistful for tzar Ivan's days.
An empire in decline can't shield its friends;
nobody has a clue how all this ends.

A New Dawn

Assad thought Putin'd always have his back
presuming Kremlin coffers would stay filled
But sanctions bite; gas revenue's now Jack
He'd have to pay for future thousands killed.
Dug in, behind Damascus' ancient walls
What's next, a world of pundits couldn't tell 
He had emigrate, or take the fall
and join his fellow Baathist thugs in Hell.
The blitzkrieg Putin couldn't pull off in Ukraine
rolled like a Spring storm torrent heaven-sent
his mercenaries quit where there's no gain
to leave their boss alone in Yael's tent.
One chinless exile languishing alone;
six million refugees now turn for home.

conflicted

Jon Huntsman deconflicted our attack
lest Russians chip a nail without due cause.
But no one trusts that Trump will have his back
contemptuous of diplomats, and laws.
Obama was too prudent to commit
to proxy war, with no good end in sight.
But Trump--unthinking--wades into that shit
expecting Fox will trumpet that he's right.
binSalman, and Macron think we should stay
'though no one has conceived an exit plan.
Assad seems disinclined to quit the fray.
If anybody's winning, it's Iran.
Not quite a policy, just bombs, and words.
And no one advocates for murdered Kurds.

brinks

The Mullahs sent the Quds brigade to Homs
projecting power closer to Riyadh.
But likewise, within range of hostile bombs;
fourteen more shaheedin drew close to God.
For Bibi, four near-neighbors are enough
those know they'd bear the cost of an attack.
To take a Persian pawn just shows he's tough
and no one wants to be the next Iraq.
'Though Putin's miffed he hadn't seen the plan
Israelis knew no Russian blood'd be spilled.
They tracked his mercenaries to the man.
No one of any notice would be killed.
A proxy war heats up in the Levant,
as Trump throws every switch he's told he can't.

justice deferred

Saad Hariri knows Assad full well

'though justice in this world is looking bleak.

Bashar deserves a special place in Hell

for blowing up Prime Minister Rafik.

'Though Mehlis nailed his assets to the wall

the Syrians demur to give a hoot

The playing-field is theirs, as is the ball,

from Kurdistan to beaches in Beirut.

The Russians grant him Syria, alone

with military hardware, not just words.

He'll live another season on the throne

and spend it murdering n-thousand Kurds.

The day that Putin leaves, and takes his thugs,

Assad's whole family hangs, and the world shrugs.

...some to abhorrence

Saad Hariri knows Assad full well
'though justice in this world is looking bleak.
Bashar deserves a special place in Hell
for blowing up Prime Minister Rafik.
'Though Mehlis nailed his assets to the wall
the Syrians demur to give a hoot
The playing-field is theirs, as is the ball,
from Kurdistan to beaches in Beirut.
The Russians grant him Syria, alone
with military hardware, not just words.
He'll live another season on the throne
and spend it murdering n-thousand Kurds.

 The day that Putin leaves, and takes his gang,
we'll shrug to see Assad's whole family hang.

strategic distraction

Trump warned the Russians; airstrips would be struck

their pilots must not be there on the ground

He felt he had to claim to give a fuck

his ratings trend inexorably down

a sham, to show he's not in Putin's debt

no planes were crippled in the noise attack

the target was to make the Press forget

the Kremlin'd put him in, and had his back

a hundred million more for Raytheon

let media work out who's getting rich

to change the matter they'd been focused on

the thousand ways that Trump's been Putin's bitch

the press reporting on our demagogue

must not allow this tail to wag the dog

pounding sand

Trump warned the Russians; airstrips would be hit
their pilots must not be there on the ground
Assad would have to make the best of it
at least his warplanes shouldn't be around
a sham, to show he's not in Putin's debt
no planes were crippled in the noise attack
the target was to make the Press forget
the Kremlin'd put him in, and had his back
a hundred million more for Raytheon
let media work out who's getting rich
to change the matter they'd been focused on
the thousand ways that Trump's been Putin's bitch
the press reporting on our demagogue
must not allow this tail to wag the dog

callous

Aleppo's children starve, but who's to care
defying Putin's not their war to fight
they're too concerned with Syrians' flight here
to challenge Russia's military might
no television crews are on those scenes
to document the way the dying feel
until a pundit tells us what it means
Americans pretend it isn't real
each death's a world unrealized, stillborn
you'd think the Right-to-Lifers would engage
but if they're Muslim, there's no one to mourn
they limp ashore to meet more fear and rage
the Torch of Freedom lights a bolted gate
where Donald's gospel's Greed, and Fear, and Hate

brigand-in-chief

Hariri's murder cries out from the Earth
and Mehlis pinned the blame on al-Assad
a Criminal Court of a nickel's worth
would free his cringing soul to meet his God
a hundred groups compete to claim his head
although they're often at each other's throats
until Assad's whole clan is safely dead
the region's run by bullets, not by votes
but Putin's hot to keep an ice-free port
and doesn't trust the Arctic to stay clear
a fellow butcher after Vlad's own sort
keeps the Levant dysfunctional with fear
six million refugees flee in despair
a broken State that's now a brigand's lair        

cold harbor II

the refugees in flight from al-Assad
find doors are closed to them in the U.S.
because some think they bow to the wrong God
we show scant sympathy for their distress
the Jews of  Europe met much the same fate
our nativists impugned them as a threat
recurrent episodes of baseless hate
we fail to learn but bleat "never forget!"
cold nation of religious refugees
who'd bar the gate when someone new wants in
who like our forebears, longing to breath free
too snug to recognize it's we that sin
the Germans lead, and we're coming in last
internalizing lessons from our past

cold harbor

a tide of migrants fleeing al-Assad
find doors are closed to them in the U.S.
because some think they bow to the wrong God
we show scant sympathy for their distress
the Jews of  Europe met much the same fate
our nativists impugned them as a threat
recurrent episodes of baseless hate
we fail to learn but bleat "never forget!"
cold nation of religious refugees
who'd bar the gate when someone new wants in
who like our forebears, longing to breath free
too snug to recognize it's we that sin
the Germans lead, and we're coming in last
internalizing lessons from our past

cutting losses

as Aeroflot goes on the auction block
Bashar Assad knows he'll be on his own
no further rubles to reset his clock
his patron's broke and he's in this alone
a foreign war keeps voters pacified
but trying that too often would be rash
the hungry peasants can't subsist on pride
and empires fall when they run out of cash
the fracking boom has pushed crude oil's price down
while Russia has no other revenue
this Assad fling's a night out on the town
he can't afford while other bills are due
when Moscow sneezed, Damascus caught a cold
and allies bought for cash are cheaply sold

massacre of innocents

new Herod terrorizes the Levant
as if each innocent wanted him dead
Damascus labors to give news his slant
but most atrocities are on his head
IslamicState may dominate the press
but their death-toll's a trifle to the State's
a hundred factions battle for this mess
while millions more attempt to emigrate
the peoplehood of Syria's unclear
imperial vestige of Picot-Sykes
and civil war will drag on many years
until Assad's head's posted on a pike
it's rare one individual's to blame
for so much horror wrought in Assad's name