Around the World in the Good Ship DOGGEREL, 180

A doggerel series about the countries of the world.

Turkey.

When you’re a kid—confess it’s so!—

This country makes you smile.

You cook those birds on holidays—

Just roasting with such style!

But childhood’s full of errors wild—

And Turkey is but one.

The country’s ancient—so complex—

So much there has been done.

Location is its history—

What’s made its presence known.

Location is one source of war—

That brutal bloody stone.

But I have friends who’ve lived there long—

A friend who often goes—

So I rely on their reports

For what a wise one knows.

And wonder fills their stories, and

Affection for the place—

Affection for the people—

For the geographic space.

The country still remains a key—

Between the East and West—

And there you’ll find—like everywhere—

The human worst—and best.