Contents of War
Contents of War
War, is a strange parody of life,
You live it as a soldier;
Beckoned by power be you brave
Or a coward,
It is much fought over this,
This human debacle that
Never relents,
Never goes away to tired
Quarters of history,
Much fought over by
Pacifist and Politician alike,
Always a bargaining tool
Always a bargaining tool for peace
Or, riot!
You live it, even the
Civilians as petty as they can
Sometimes be,
You live it,
Live by its headlines
Live by the next coffin
Draped in red white and blue,
And you know the truth
We ‘all’ know the truth.
War!
Is a sad fact of Man
And wherever you stand,
You’re standing upon
Histories of blood,
For we wouldn’t be
Where we are,
Wouldn’t see all who’ve
Come before without
The monuments and cenotaphs
Still,
It’s about time we all
Took one stand,
One stance and said no
To its power,
No to its grip
Upon peoples of peace
For the soldier does not go,
Doesn’t forage in deserts for
Medals of honour;
He exists like the best of
Us trying to make sense
Of mayhem and madness,
Unwitting in knowing
The harm that it does
And if we all lay down
And placed within trust
A dormant trigger a finger,
We would chance
Only a tentative
Grasp upon peace.
No, I fear this little title
With all its sentiments will
Not wake people to the
Real stubborn truth;
For be you brave or a coward
Power to a being
Like sweets to a child
Will always beckon the gun,
And even though,
We serve in faith,
We’re not so blind
As not to see the
Misgivings undone,
Power,
Can corrupt the Saintliest
Of souls if it’s placed in
Harbours not taught all
We now know,
For ignorance is bliss,
Silent and peaceful
And there be the irony,
For once the trigger is pulled,
A world full of madness
Decays every God likened soul
As the ship that will sail,
For ever and after
Be the ghost of the child
Who’d never murdered
Before,
And before is all we shall
Wish for;
Sailing in tears
The many seas of despair.
Michael J Waite 28th May 2012.
