Bradley Manning

When Bradley moved back from western Wales

His Okie accent still wouldn’t fail

Sleeping in his pickup truck, his Soul wouldn’t calm

He wrote to his mother, “I’m nobody now, Mom”

It’s hard to imagine why bullies dig

But Bradley understood it came with the gig

He wanted an education with all his will

So he walked in and signed up to get that GI bill

“I want…”

Today, those who got up in Bradley’s face

Wish to remain anonymous, in their disgrace

They spread rumors around that he wet himself scared

Even if that’s true, you know I don’t really care

“Recycled” from Iraq and stationed at Fort Drum

His boyfriend introduced him to Triskelion

He met the hacktivists at MIT

“Randomly hung out with some pikans”; “At last, people like me”

“I want…”

Deployed to Base Hammer, near Iran

Built from freight containers and sheer boredom

The bullies on the base went in for the kill

They said, “We got a saying here: Shit rolls downhill”

On leave in Boston, but his boyfriend had flown

Bradley wrote him on Facebook: “I have no real home”

And before the Builds launch party, he went on to vent:

“Bradley Manning is not a piece of equipment”

“I want…”

While passwords are written on sticky notes

And stuck to laptop screens, Bradley explodes

Found in a storeroom stabbing a chair

Bradley carved, “I want…” with a passion that’s all-too rare

Now he’s due to be court-martialed this December

To prove bullying is better than a wild temper

Now, when we say “I want”, we invoke his chair

Bradley, know you have friends, though you’re locked in there

“I want…”