Lawrence Hall
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https://hellopoetry.com/lawrence-hall/
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com

                              A Steady Diet of Invaders

“And the end of the fight is a tombstone white with the name of the late deceased,
And the epitaph drear:  "A Fool lies here who tried to hustle the East”

                             -Kipling, “The Decline of the West”

This is the day, they say, that Kabul fell
A year ago - but Kabul did not fall
It’s still there: invaders come, invaders die
Pale British, Russians, and Americans

Afghanistan has eaten all of them
It even devours its own, and gnaws the bones
And all are dust along the Hindu Kush
Where lizards scuttle among imperial dreams

That land where caravans and mystics roam -
(Let’s mind our own business and stay at home)