Initiative

the leader wraps us around his little finger
we are afraid of nukes
then atrocities follow
aside from soldiers killed
bearing arms to defend
their scuttled homes.

He wraps us around his finger
we have been duped
thinking economic sanctions work
fearful of larger nukes
piles of undeclared bodies
genocide written on their vests

a short war to lengthen
through fear it grows longer
fearful of nuclear strikes
watch the dead pile up
on evacuated streets
now liberated
scars of war

he has the initiative
knowingly  the west follows
in a trance
he wraps us around his little finger
we are too afraid of nukes
sadly too afraid to take the lead
instead of reacting to a genocide.