Paul Warren Poet Ballad

The Legend of the Sandwich

Gavrilo Princip wanted to kill the Arch-duke Franz Ferninand
To integrate Bosnian-born Serbians into the Greater Serbia
So with bombs and pistols supplied by the Serbian military
With another seven conspirators who positioned themselves
Along the route in Sarajevo streets to their throw bombs  
Nedeljko Cabrinovic was the first to act and threw a grenade
The fuse of this bomb was too long and it exploded under
A following car full of Austrian officers who were injured

Cabrinovic took expired cyanide that didn't work and then
He jumped in a nearby river that was only four inches deep
So his attempts to evade capture failed him in the end
The bombing threw out the plans of the Arch-duke then
And his plans for the day were abandoned and he decided
To go to the Sarajevo Town Hall to meet city officials there 
The Arch-duke's driver was not a local and became confused
Turning into a dead end street and having to reverse back up

This is the part of the story that has been written into legend
Princip was in Schiller's delicatessen eating a sandwich
When he saw the Arch-duke's car outside on Franz Josef Street
He couldn't believe this opportunity to kill the Arch-duke
So you he dropped his sandwich and rushed outside
Just in time to assassinate the Arch-duke and his wife
He was caught and later died in custody during the Great War
The legend of the sandwich may or may not be true
But the coincidences that set the scene for the Great War
May have swung on a delicatessen sandwich for lunch.

© Paul Warren Poetry

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