In the cities
Public services were token.
Scavenging and looting reigned supreme.
Lines of power and communication broken.
Here as well survival was the theme.
Cunning was required to cross a street
Without being robbed, attacked
Or subjected to pillage.
Soon martial law was clamped
On every city, town and village.
But local governments collapsed
And those with weapons took command.
The nation's mighty arm
Whose mere flex made countries tremble
Was ordered to seize or sever
Its own convulsive hand.