Straight-backed and big-ear-bald, the army man Tells us what he did in our name, how he held The father to the floor with a foot on his chest And waved his gun at the others to leave the room. The others were children, a wife greasy with dinner, A woman who must have been an aunt. They Were too frightened to move, so he lowered the gun And said to his two buddies: Show them out. Left alone with the man of the house, he kicked Him in the side, pulled out a knife, and pressed The point to his neck. Tell me who that sniper is Or I will slice off your tongue. The man grabbed At the knife and cut his tongue with it himself. The squiggles on the floor even God couldn’t read.