THIS IS NOT A DRILL
At 8:07 came the message over TV, over cell phones
A BALLISTIC MISSILE THREAT is INBOUND
TO HAWAII. Urgent was the message
Go immediately to shelter. THIS IS NOT A DRILL
People panicked, soon be dying. Get my family! Where’s a shelter?
All the islands from Oahu to Kahoolawe
People fearful everywhere dismayed and unprepared
Of course it was a human blunder; someone triggered the alarm
It took some eight and thirty minutes ‘till they messaged out
MISSILE ALERT is IN ERROR, so THERE IS NO missile THREAT
Relieved, it left the people angry: they were made to suffer so
Their senator, one Brian Shatz, vowed no more future false alarms
Politically, that’s smart to say, but actually it’s pretty dumb
Human error there will be. It’s deep within our human genes
No one’s mentioned the real lesson that this episode revealed
Hawaii, now a likely target for a nuclear attack,
Has not seen the threat as serious. Grossly unprepared are they
With Trump and Kim, both men unstable, likelihood’s of error soar
But after finding who’s the culprit heaping on him blame and more
This will all be long forgotten, back they’ll go like times before
1/13/18
