No hostile troops are at our borders.
No warships but ours can be detected
In the nearby seas.  No other nation's
Aircraft fly above us, nor do savage
Hordes come rushing toward our placid
Streets.  No matter.  We still spend
Prodigious sums, more than we have,
All we can borrow, on our armies
And their weapons, and our prisons,
And their guards, and sheriffs,
Deputies, police, and, though they
Circle day and night, we feel
Compelled to arm ourselves.  What
Fills us with such fear?, I wonder.
Could it be our own misdeeds, our
Efforts to exterminate the natives
We encountered here, the people we
Brought in as slaves, then freed
From bondage, we proclaimed,
Though, even now, they are enslaved?
Are these the reasons why we're
Fearful?  Have the things we've done
Invited vengeance we deserve?