POEM COLLECTION #2: THE ROOFS OF NEUCHÂTEL
part 4: warring
Commentary
In 1980, eight years after my retirement from CIA, a number of us who had worked together in the preparation of National Intelligence Estimates gathered for lunch to honor Sherman Kent. Sherm, onetime professor of history at Yale, had been our leader in the production of these estimates, into which we put our best thinking based on all relevant information the Intelligence Community could gather. Such estimates were prepared for the National Security Council, chaired by the President, to alert policymakers about important international developments which might require action.
I wrote the poem CIA for that occasion as a salute to Kent. I believe it spells out as well as can be done in a few words what we in estimates work sought to help accomplish. At that time, we little realized the major US adversary, the USSR, would crumble during our lifetime.
While the US and its Allies were involved in a major effort against Iraq, there naturally was great interest on developments in the Near East. Hence, Christmas 1990: Desert Shield. Some months later, in 1991, came yet another major development, prompting An August Christmas: Death of the USSR. As we now continue to witness human degradation and material devastation in so many troubled spots in the world (Bosnia, Rwanda, Ireland, Middle East, to name but a few) I felt compelled to include L'Envoi from World War II, written in 1985, to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the defeat of the Axis powers in World War II. For indeed, the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse still ride forth in all their fury.
It was in October 1994 that the telephone rang, about 11 o'clock and I had already retired. Through the cobwebs of sleep I heard, "This is Star calling from Washington. I need a poem on the Ames spy case right away." Confused I sought clarification, finally recalling that the District of Columbia has no Star newspaper.
As it was, the caller, indeed calling from Washington, was Star Murphy, editor of the CIA retirees quarterly, saying that the magnitude of the damage done to the United States by CIA's clandestine intelligence officer Aldrich Hazen Ames over a period of years had to be underscored in a pithy manner, which only a poem could do. I promised to be back in touch.
The remainder of the night I slept, on and off, fitfully. Words criss-crossed in mind in dreamy fashion. At one point, I got up, got pen and my faithful yellow legal pad, and scribbled notes lest any possibly useful idea vanish by daybreak when I arose. By 10 a.m. I had a poem ready to take to the local real estate office where it could be faxed to the anxious editor.
The poem, Stain of Shame, was published in the Winter 1994/95 issue of the CIRA Newsletter (Vol. XIX, No. 4).
Ames had been sentenced to life imprisonment, without parole, on 28 April 1994. His wife, Rosario, was sentenced to 5 years, 3 months on 21 October 1994. By way of footnote: Permission was obtained from the prison authorities to deliver a copy of the poem to Ames. I never learned what his reaction was.
PAB 1996
L'Envoi from World War II
Then sounded clarion call for all to rise
To man the threatened ramparts of our strand
And thus our sacred duty solemnize:
Safeguard the precious freedom of the land
Some sixteen million took the crimson field
As ruptured homefront labored in support
With valiant allies forcing foe to yield
On land and sea fair victory to court
Now many men in blue and khaki lie
In gardens under glistening white stone crosses
Anew the statesman fights a flaming sky
On parchment still another pact embosses
Yet all the past but worse to come precedes
While horsemen four bestride their fearsome steeds
CIA
You with the scholar's clarity of mind
That we the wiser, surer path may find
Discern what was, or is, or yet may be
In China, Russia, oil rich Araby?
Lest we the errors of the past repeat
Warn us of tests and trials that defeat
With care sift through your gleanings cause by cause
Detaching tendrils of effect from cause
For him who Presidential courses charts
Extract from all the sciences and arts
A sum beyond the sum of separate parts
Christmas 1990: Desert Shield
Little woman, little man
As you sit upon the shelf
What would be your first command
If you could express yourself?
Would you ask for precious gold?
Or for myrrh? Or frankincense?
Brought by wise men as of olde
Seeking then no recompense?
Mid the blare at Desert Shield
We but one prayer would bespeak:
May the mighty in the field
Blessed Peace this Christmas keep!
Death of the USSR: August 1991
When despots rose, then fell the just
Dispatched to Gulags by decree
But resurrected now, they see
Red castles crumbling in the dust
For naught shall stand upon this earth
That is not built on human worth
The Stain of Shame: CIA's Ames Spy Case
Then slept the watchmen of the Citadel
We on a Hill had built. While Ahab sought
In shameful concert with his Jezebel
To sell what others with their blood had bought
The line that crosses every human heart
To evil side was pushed and kept for gain
There to his trustful colleagues then impart
The cruel blow called death beyond the pain
Dishonored captive now enchained in dust
Who sought not truth that could have kept you free
You've stripped from self the honor placed in trust
By hanging fellow man from Judas tree
'Tis left to us to strive now to regain
The light beyond the shadow of your stain
In 1980, eight years after my retirement from CIA, a number of us who had worked together in the preparation of National Intelligence Estimates gathered for lunch to honor Sherman Kent. Sherm, onetime professor of history at Yale, had been our leader in the production of these estimates, into which we put our best thinking based on all relevant information the Intelligence Community could gather. Such estimates were prepared for the National Security Council, chaired by the President, to alert policymakers about important international developments which might require action.
I wrote the poem CIA for that occasion as a salute to Kent. I believe it spells out as well as can be done in a few words what we in estimates work sought to help accomplish. At that time, we little realized the major US adversary, the USSR, would crumble during our lifetime.
While the US and its Allies were involved in a major effort against Iraq, there naturally was great interest on developments in the Near East. Hence, Christmas 1990: Desert Shield. Some months later, in 1991, came yet another major development, prompting An August Christmas: Death of the USSR. As we now continue to witness human degradation and material devastation in so many troubled spots in the world (Bosnia, Rwanda, Ireland, Middle East, to name but a few) I felt compelled to include L'Envoi from World War II, written in 1985, to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the defeat of the Axis powers in World War II. For indeed, the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse still ride forth in all their fury.
It was in October 1994 that the telephone rang, about 11 o'clock and I had already retired. Through the cobwebs of sleep I heard, "This is Star calling from Washington. I need a poem on the Ames spy case right away." Confused I sought clarification, finally recalling that the District of Columbia has no Star newspaper.
As it was, the caller, indeed calling from Washington, was Star Murphy, editor of the CIA retirees quarterly, saying that the magnitude of the damage done to the United States by CIA's clandestine intelligence officer Aldrich Hazen Ames over a period of years had to be underscored in a pithy manner, which only a poem could do. I promised to be back in touch.
The remainder of the night I slept, on and off, fitfully. Words criss-crossed in mind in dreamy fashion. At one point, I got up, got pen and my faithful yellow legal pad, and scribbled notes lest any possibly useful idea vanish by daybreak when I arose. By 10 a.m. I had a poem ready to take to the local real estate office where it could be faxed to the anxious editor.
The poem, Stain of Shame, was published in the Winter 1994/95 issue of the CIRA Newsletter (Vol. XIX, No. 4).
Ames had been sentenced to life imprisonment, without parole, on 28 April 1994. His wife, Rosario, was sentenced to 5 years, 3 months on 21 October 1994. By way of footnote: Permission was obtained from the prison authorities to deliver a copy of the poem to Ames. I never learned what his reaction was.
PAB 1996
L'Envoi from World War II
Then sounded clarion call for all to rise
To man the threatened ramparts of our strand
And thus our sacred duty solemnize:
Safeguard the precious freedom of the land
Some sixteen million took the crimson field
As ruptured homefront labored in support
With valiant allies forcing foe to yield
On land and sea fair victory to court
Now many men in blue and khaki lie
In gardens under glistening white stone crosses
Anew the statesman fights a flaming sky
On parchment still another pact embosses
Yet all the past but worse to come precedes
While horsemen four bestride their fearsome steeds
CIA
You with the scholar's clarity of mind
That we the wiser, surer path may find
Discern what was, or is, or yet may be
In China, Russia, oil rich Araby?
Lest we the errors of the past repeat
Warn us of tests and trials that defeat
With care sift through your gleanings cause by cause
Detaching tendrils of effect from cause
For him who Presidential courses charts
Extract from all the sciences and arts
A sum beyond the sum of separate parts
Christmas 1990: Desert Shield
Little woman, little man
As you sit upon the shelf
What would be your first command
If you could express yourself?
Would you ask for precious gold?
Or for myrrh? Or frankincense?
Brought by wise men as of olde
Seeking then no recompense?
Mid the blare at Desert Shield
We but one prayer would bespeak:
May the mighty in the field
Blessed Peace this Christmas keep!
Death of the USSR: August 1991
When despots rose, then fell the just
Dispatched to Gulags by decree
But resurrected now, they see
Red castles crumbling in the dust
For naught shall stand upon this earth
That is not built on human worth
The Stain of Shame: CIA's Ames Spy Case
Then slept the watchmen of the Citadel
We on a Hill had built. While Ahab sought
In shameful concert with his Jezebel
To sell what others with their blood had bought
The line that crosses every human heart
To evil side was pushed and kept for gain
There to his trustful colleagues then impart
The cruel blow called death beyond the pain
Dishonored captive now enchained in dust
Who sought not truth that could have kept you free
You've stripped from self the honor placed in trust
By hanging fellow man from Judas tree
'Tis left to us to strive now to regain
The light beyond the shadow of your stain
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