Neil Hall
Blank palm / black hand
At the turn of the century
Fortune tellers around the world
Were puzzled and alarmed
At a stream of visits from
Young men with blank palms
Meanwhile in Serbia
By the sun which warms me
By the earth that feeds me
I Gavrilo Princip swear fidelity
To the cause of Serbian nationalism
And to sacrifice my life for it
A young man is inducted
Into the Black Hand
28th June, Sarajevo
The Archduke is unaware that
Amongst the cheering crowd, seven assassins
Await their moment, and the failure of a first
attempt
Does not deter fanatics
The chauffeur makes an error
The Imperial procession brakes sharply, stops
Gavrilo Princip, teenage agitator
Takes out his revolver and fires twice
Morganatic murder, and the world goes down
Page(s) 120
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