Lawrence Hall
Dispatches for the Colonial Office
Not Herod’s Household
Cavalry This time
The Holy
Innocents
Not Herod’s household cavalry this time
His personal SS with their spears and swords
From screaming children ripping their sacred lives
And flinging the tiny fragments into the dust
Now Herod sends his tailored representatives
With silky-soft, serpentine promises
Would you like a dress as nice as this?
For only an hour or two of easy work
Softly now
Don’t worry; your parents will never know -
Because they will never choose to know
