Tutorial

Account

Forums

Monday, November 11, 2013

War Musings

I don’t know any soldiers
I mean I do, but not as such
I know people, and I know fighters
But enlisted, numbered ones, not so much.
I know what they do, thanks to great writers
O’Brien and McCrae and Erdrich and Owen
I know of the distress, of how one suffers
On this and that side, we are all forsaken
I know what the emotional burden can be
Even if I never carried the weight of the bullets and gear
I know what it’s like to wonder if somewhere, far or near
Someone is pining for a sign, a family tree
I will never, I hope, bear the scars
That come with the atrocities of wars
I cannot imagine trading a life, overlooking mercy
For anything, let alone a country
So I wonder, and ponder, and try to understand
Why so many are thankful and shake hands
I’m not UNgrateful, simply I muse
On the meaning of wars, and their use.
I dream of a land where peace prevails
And of a time when children can grow and eat their pie,
Free of the politics, of the pain, of the wails
Free of the need for soldiers to die.
Soldier on for strength, for a right to think and speak