Directive
‘Your belongings are circled, zoned.
Pack your baggage (infants, dogs, cats);
pile up the carts, Grandad!
‘Forget the rice. Let all scavengers
grow happily fat. Let rats & mice
like zanies swell helplessly on it!
‘Attend to instructions: in a matter of hours
(3 at the most) flocks of obliterating birds
- rocketing - stuttering - will burn up your hut, son!
‘Agitate your family; quickly stir up your friends;
concentrate your mind; firmly fix it on vital interests.
Not a bomb shall be aimed at anonymous persons
- only at you, Pop!’
Note
This piece is a warning that the impending air-strike calls for immediate & concentrated attention.
The leader of the people about to be attacked is a simple old man who must eliminate any vagueness from his ideas of the intention & consequences of such an assault.