Duststorms.Flies.Mirages.
So hot the wounded would crawl
To the Tigris to drink the putrid water,
While pi-dogs and treacherous Arabs
Picked over the corpses.
The vast bare mapless plain had seen
The deaths of myriads before;
Distance and logistics
Killed as surely as guns;
Soon each horse’s every rib
Could be counted.
Truly Satan had commandeered
The land of Adam and Eve.
Bully beef and hardtack
Instead of forbidden fruit.
Prisoner and slave, they learned,
Were synonyms in the Turks’ tongue.
Barefoot,ragged,sick and starved,
“The Sultan’s honoured guests”
Stumbled on, whipped through
The jeering Baghdad bazaar,
As movie cameras hissed
To record the glorious victory.
In Berlin, the Kaiser,Defender of Islam,
Chuckled to himself-how easily
The Ottoman savages had swallowed
His propaganda, ready to acclaim him
A descendant of the Prophet!
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