Direct Threat

Should we wait for boiling water,
steaming on the stove,
to fall on an innocent child
before we remove?

Should preemption be avoided,
nine-one-one ignore
tolerate the conflagration,
or fight awful gore?

Should self-important notables
who protest a war
against a malicious tyrant
be peace's troubadour?

Should we permit ruling despots
who torture and kill,
if they're no direct threat to us,
all their schemes fulfill?

Should those that harbor terrorists
be allowed to stand,
like boiling water on the stove
"scald and scar" our land?