Poetry at War

 

During times of war and adversity,

there is a need for compassion in poetry.

As buildings crumble and distant guns rumble,

the poet wakes and in his melancholy does stumble.

The world has turned upside down in his sight,

which motivates him with pen and paper to write.

His mind and voice are harmonised to compose,

the horrors to which his eyes are exposed.

In wars past old poets spoke of futility,

the loss of life blown into eternity.

Wars of yesteryear and those of today,

are all the same in what they have to say.

The poet stands alone to observe and wonder,

what lies beyond the guns and their thunder.

People trapped, wounded and grief stricken,

whilst others are shell shocked and forever smitten.

The landscape of war is one of desolation,

from which families are torn apart in their isolation.

Lovers are left to mourn and widows dressed in black,

as those they once loved return home in a sack.

The poet struggles to find words to describe,

as those who lie dead do now with God abide.