Enemy

If you believe 
the speeches, the policies, the pronouncements; 

if you believe 
the rhetoric, the rantings, the bluster; 

if you believe 
the government 
when it says these people are terrorists, are evil, are bad 
guys—then you forget 
to check for proof, for verification, for due 
process; you forget to wonder why—
if the government is so certain—they don’t 
draft charges, 
produce evidence, make use of 
our hallowed system of justice. 

You forget to look over your shoulder 
until the jack boots stomp      behind you; 
until the batons and the tear gas are aimed      at you; 
until—without proof, without truth, without  
due process—you 
are declared 

Enemy. 

by Gale Naylor