Blackop Poem by Ted L Glines

BlackOp
by Ted L Glines

Wet activity with no explanations
is the stock-in-trade of black operations.
Romeo and Juliet walking in the park,
just a tourist couple out for a lark,
there - on a bench - sits Papa - the boss,
this is one wet mission where we'll suffer no loss.
Romeo and Juliet - the best in fact
will never win an Oscar for their act,
always moving like a shadow in a dream,
simply known as the 'Alpha Team.'
'Charlie saw the Zulu, ' message on the phone,
meaning 'Charlie' would die - toppled from his throne.
Keshandra Shah had refused to parley
so now he was given the code name 'Charlie.'
Papa gets up and walks away,
his paper left laying on display,
two 'beta' capsules taped inside,
deadly stuff and easy to hide.
Last November - Delta Force learned,
Peruvian money Shah had earned,
cartels in Lima - cash for drugs
brought by the Afghan Jihad thugs.
Xray records showed 'Charlie' had cancer,
one little fact in a larger answer.
In the High Sierra - our Pres was saddened,
a meeting between Shah and bin Laden.
Our DOD has a uniform code,
not in sync with plans Shah sowed.
From Quebec to India - politics is mean,
the victor always - the power of green.
Dirty deals - playing golf or in a bar,
staying clean - pulling strings from afar,
Shah cared not - a kilo or a life,
he didn't care if he caused world strife.
Our Shah had a weakness for his whiskey,
made his pain go away - made him frisky,
Yankee-Vats 1962,
way too expensive for the likes of you.
At the hotel tonight Shah would be dancing,
old time music for the gal he was romancing,
tango moving and foxtrot too,
and the night could end with a death or two.
Romeo and Juliet - dancing 'cross the floor,
close to the tables - close to the door,
and there sits Shah and his girlfriend too
with two full drinks and his Vat-62,
singer on the mike - band playing loud,
everybody happy in this dancing crowd.
Juliet stumbles - falls with a yelp,
Shah and his girl rise up to help,
Romeo doctors 'Charlie' Shah's drink,
happening quicker than you can blink.
The powder - once drank - cannot be traced,
a simple hormone without any taste,
but once it's down - no turning back
from the oncoming terminal heart attack.
Shah's death did echo in the news,
with the girlfriend stuck - singing the blues,
and never known - never cheered,
Romeo and Juliet ... disappeared.


Author's Notes: Leave it to ChuckRoast, poet emeritus, to issue the challenge to write a poem which contained all 26 of the words in the NATO alphabet (Alpha, Beta, Charlie, Delta, Echo, Foxtrot, Golf, Hotel, India, Juliet, Kilo, Lima, Mike, November, Oscar, Papa, Quebec, Romeo, Sierra, Tango, Uniform, Victor, Whiskey, Xray, Yankee, Zulu) . Since we all know from Hollywood movies that spies are enamoured with codes for everything, these words almost wrote BlackOp without any help from me. Of course there is not a bit of truth in the story, but a word to the wise from me - if anyone ever calls you 'Charlie, ' you might want to duck.