American Embassy of Horror

You have taken away my love from me

You do rip away our hope

Our dreams are dust upon the wind

As for answers we do grope

From behind your bulletproof glass; you say

Dot this “I” and cross this “T”

Since you blew it the first time

Do it all again and pay this fee

Still full of love and hope filled

We did everything you asked

Though as soon as we finished one

You assigned us a new task

“Tell us how you feel,” you said

“But, do it in 500 words

Tell us how much you love her

But leave out the songs and birds”

“Your words are pretty but meaningless

You will have to show us more proof

Pictures of your wedding and honeymoon

So we will know it’s not a spoof”

“Sir you are not getting the point

This is not hardly enough

Give us notarized statements from witnesses

Two weeks sir, and then we get tough

So we dotted our “I’s” and crossed our “T’s”

Careful, to do it all right

Gathering pictures and notarized statements

We did gear up for the fight

For fight it is, be not fooled

By all the whistles and bells

To bring your love to freedoms shore

Prepare to face living Hell

Finally comes the day of reckoning

Your appointment is finally made

Every moment of your time together

In a briefcase you have saved

A year and a half for this moment

When they will decide your fate

With your briefcase full of memories

You are frantic to not be late

Only to be told you are not allowed

They wish only to see her

If you object to their procedure

They treat you like a rabid cur

Part II

My wife called from Vietnam today

Her voice was husky with tears

Despite our valiant efforts to comply

They had confirmed our fears

Our months of preparation

It all had come to naught

They insisted that we were liars

That now we had been caught

We need more notarized statements

A timeline don’t you see

We do not believe this is truth

But to prove it you are free

So I dropped everything I had going

Everything I had planned

Put our situation in peril

To fly to a foreign land

Surely if I was there myself

They could not fail to see

Our love was true, and devout

Together we deserve to be

14000 miles later did I

Hug my darling wife

Assured her we had a chance

To still fulfill our lives

So we checked then checked again

Surely enough this will be

But bureaucracy has its own agenda

It is logical don’t you see

They refused to see me or our proof

They said they did not have too

All we want Sir is what we asked

That is what you have to do

Then they handed their decision down

On a piece of paper no less

Never having talked to either of us

They did what they thought was best

It said:

Despite your pictures and notarized statements

Your proof of this or that

We feel you married too quickly

So we will not give you a chance

The wedding was way too small, and

Your engagement was a joke

Where was your family from America?

 Are they deadbeats who were broke?

As any perceptive man can see

We think all this is a ruse

The American government is tolerant

But we shall not be abused

For their minds were made up already

And nothing was proof enough

Not a thousand more pictures of love

Not a mountain of things they call stuff

So now our hearts are broken

Our dreams a shattered board

Next will come the lawyers

That we cannot afford

 For honesty was not enough

Nor commitment, nor our love

To people who play God with lives

And pass judgments from above

Only time now our story will tell

The ending of it in doubt

Like thousands of others who also

Have no voice to shout

So I shout from the highest mountain

To the depths of the deepest sea

Something needs to change my friend

We can not just let this be

I feel just like; I am a prisoner

Though having committed no crime

The Embassy though has committed one

By stealing our precious time

Time that could have been building memories

To carry with us unto old age

Yet my wife sits upon a foreign shore

While I deal with frustration and rage

And if you are not enraged

Then you are not paying attention

For people are being denied their rights

And also suffer from my frustration

Perhaps if I would have known who to bribe

My wife would be with me now

Is that the way America works?

Can you tell me, tell me how?

Life, Liberty, the Pursuit of Happiness

The Right to Free Speech

To Live, to Love, to Grow

How about the Right to Marry who you want?

Where is the Justice for us?

I understand that there are scams,

That there are people who prey on the system

But thousands of others are honest like me

And being beaten down by the system

The American Embassy of Horror

That is what it should be called

No more I implore the public

Make your voice be heard

Tell the politicians this is wrong

Anthony Craig Hotopp

American Citizen