Dig For Acronyms

Defence Secretary, Philip Hammond,
Has feelings
        for drones.
He said in a TV debate recently
       that drones should be called unmanned aerial vehicles, 
Not drones.

UAVs, we may also call them for short.
Acronyms always sound more civilised,
Requiring less thought.

Drones - far too loaded now, 
Inferring their negative connotation: 
Collateral damage.
That's the damaged who happen to be dead too.

Soon we shall all use a drone,
Like a mobile phone.
They won't fire anything more harmful than a home delivery,
A book, a gift token.
Then it should be okay to say drone.

In this spirit,
They who suicide bombers swiftly fuse with their martyrdom,
Should they, their victims, be renamed
carbon-based life-deflated vessels,
Or CBLDVs, for short?
CBLDVs: more impartial, more balanced.
Such renaming would recognise the other's professional pride,
Their dedication, 
Their sacrifice.

Both would agree such comparison offensive:
One is not even remotely similar to the other, not at all.

This Theatre of Language is what it has wrought,
And what makes the naming so important: it supports.
The respected espirit de corps' narrative dirty wars:
Occupy, define, neutralise, numb:
Clasp hold the ripples while stoning the pond.
Never let go.
Never let on.