Stealers-Keepers Is Being Questioned

“Stealers-Keepers” Questioned By Elton Camp If something has been stolen long enough Then is it all right simply to keep the stuff? The Guggenheim some art to Italy has sent Illicit when bought, they had more than a hint To the original owner, stolen stuff should go At least United States law tells everyone so Demands of owners have museums in a scare Requests for return of what shouldn’t be there Greece for return of the Elgin Marbles does speak The way England got them of larceny does reek Egypt, country of origin of the Rosetta Stone Says it was an outrage how it came to be gone If your fine automobile some crook should steal, What if you should spot the thief behind the wheel? “That property’s mine and I absolutely want it back. And from you, you thief, I want to hear no slack.” Will Mexico perhaps someday make a similar claim “For stealing half our whole country you are to blame.” We were told of “Manifest Destiny” back in school It made American imperialism sound sort of cool It glosses over an exercise in raw military powers “People, what you have is now going to be ours.” If, to endorse this idea, yourself you did first find Did the idea about Mexico then change your mind? It’s easy to be in favor of justice in the abstract Not as much in the face of an inconvenient fact On these controversies, I take no particular side Demands are intensifying and are harder to hide