The Two Shots Heard 'Round the World



On this day in nineteen hundred and fourteen

An eighteen-year-old student became the pin

Which, eventually, caused the world to go to war

Attempting to right the wrongs and settle scores



For Gavrio Prinzip, a Serbian from Herzogovina

Fired shots in the square at Sarajevo in Bosnia

Killing outright, Archduke Ferdinand of Austria

Along with his wife, the Duchess, also lost there



One shot hit the Archduke in the jugular vein ...

The other hit his wife's abdomen, causing pain

Both, declared dead upon arrival at the palace

Where they were taken, after this act of malice



An earlier attempt upon their lives had been fielded

When a bomb, by another Serbian, was wielded ...

Thrown at their car as they proceeded to the Town Hall

Intending to deliver an address to Bosnians all ...



But the Archduke saw it and brushed it aside

Where it fell to the ground, and then did glide

Under the car of the Archduke's aide de camp

Exploding and causing injuries to the man ...



As well as Count von Boos-Waldeck and others

(Mostly passers-by, hit by splinters and uncovered)

Another, similar bomb, was found later, nearby ...

Probably to be used if needed, after the earlier tries



But the second attempt on their lives proved deadly

And so ... all of Europe threw up their arms, readily

For the United Nations was not in existence at all, then

And the world went to war over this tragedy, now forgotten ...



- Tristram



© Christopher W. Thomas

3:10pm Monday, June 29th, 1999