Collateral Damage

Don’t need no sappy sermon
some child-molesting priest
adorned a Caesar toga
camel hide sandals
waving a golden crucifix
proclaiming “God called him home”

Don’t need no
21-gun salute & martyrdom statue
granite monolithic headstone
inscribed some Hallmark epitaph
forget a bronze star/purple heart
nailed to his pinewood casket

as if needing to be a poster child
post 9/11 patriotism
do without the bureaucratic jargon
& insincere gratitude—save
the false praises of heroism
& get the dead dude a good lawyer