Gassing Urban Populations

I wonder if the orchestrator
Of these repetitive tragedies
Is thinking to conduct a war –
Eliminate potential rebels, cow
Potential support, muddy
The worth of ideals and organization;

Or if he sees scarcity and over-
Population, underemployment,
As the forces that truly
Challenge him, and so if there were
Fewer citizens, then perhaps everyone
Would grow productively happy
In sweeping up and burying the dead.

Not an act of war,
But an act of extreme management.

And who would want to turn out
Such creative and caring leadership?

It would be unthinkable,
Perhaps even a capital crime.