A Strangely Calm Coup

No TV crew recorded the events

Of that July day down at the Bastille

When France was taken by the common French:

But half a million Serbs know how they feel.

Milosevic ran for his forfeit life,

As down his puppet parliament went in flames.

His star was faded, Kostunica's bright:

An end to all the tyrant's bloody games

Was this a democratic voice we heard,

Or banshee wail of mob rule in full cry?

And with the new, no promise that the old

Would pay for all the sins of days gone by.

We wonder too just how much will have changed:

The pedagoguery is much the same.

One nationalist another has replaced,

His votes still cast in Yugoslavia's name

For now, though, we must have faith in the Serbs

And Balkan peace be given half a chance

The faces new we greet with friendly words

And join the opposition's victory dance.