We've come to know the foreign war is far
        from distant now.  Dunes and palms are scenery
        no more. In fact, the war is where we are.

        The action's live, in time that's real. We're free
        to turn it off or on, to turn away
        from convoys, tanks, humvees, artillery.

        So it's midnight here, there plus eight, it's day.
        We watch the insubstantial columns rise
        above the skyline: smoke that billows gray.

        And here it's dusk, and there, we see night skies
        ablaze. The military experts trace
        the course on maps, their faces lined and wise.

        The breaking news is never commonplace:
        we scan the screen to find just one loved face.

Copyright © Miriam N. Kotzin, 2004. All Rights Reserved.