I Will Fight Your Enemies

America, I will fight your enemies
I will fight your wars without end
Against terrorists, anarchists, arsonists
Against rebels, radicals, revolutionaries
Against protesters, picketers, marchers
Against Levelers, Diggers, Quakers
Against spooks, spirits, specters
Against the sick who won't die
Against the poor who dare cry
Against Ur, Nineveh and Babylon
Against the daughters and sons of Man

America, I will fight your enemies
I who have seen their faces
Red, black, brown and yellow
I know where they hide, crouching
In the dark corridors of history
I know what winds they ride
Past the gates of purgatory
I know that they rise implacably
From the daily dance of dialectics

America, I have seen your enemies
I have seen them riding the Nez Perce trail
I have seen them rising from Washita
I have seen their ghosts at Wounded Knee

America, I have tracked your enemies
I have followed their twisted trail
Through the Gaza of discontent
And the West Bank of despair

America, I will defeat your enemies
I know where their cohorts hide
Still waging their wars against tyrants
In the Andes, Chiapas, Omaha

America, I will lead you to your enemies
I will lead you to their sacred places
America, when I kiss your enemies
You will know them by their anointed faces

M. Shahid Alam teaches economics at Northeastern University in Boston. Copyright: M. Shahid Alam