How Many?...

by Shaun Cronick   Jul 7, 2022


How many....
ships must sail to war,
glorious dead unaccounted for,
war widows must pitifully weep,
orphaned children deprived of sleep,
war-mongers fuelled by hate,
religious peoples to decimate,
villages still left to gas,
people to kill en masse,
citizens to cajole and hoodwink,
corpses left to rot and stink,
bombs still to be dropped,
bullets that can't be stopped,
mines awaiting innocent feet,
limbs wrapped up in a sheet,
war criminals elude the hangman,
minorities to bully and harangue,
booby-traps coldly await their lure,
years of violence can people endure,
politicians must cheat and lie,
lives evil dictators cynically deny,
white flags drenched in bloodshed,
peace treaties to arrogantly shred,
coffin makers run out of wood,
villagers shot where they stood,
smart bombs that go astray,
children die today,
tanks crush what's in their way,
children die today,
last breaths left to take,
families to annihilate,
souls corrupted for evermore,
bodies littering a church floor,
lunatics blindly obeying all orders,
tanks massing on peaceful borders
high tech missiles miss their mark,
shell-shocked troops must disembark,
banned weapons await to be sprung,
war dead are so deplorably young,
priests to give last rites,
bully boys war excites,
infinite wrongs need righting,
hearts weren't set on fighting,
abandoned countries ruled by extremists,
abandoned countries where fear persists,
men left to go over the top,
wishes for all wars to stop,
veterans forgotten and alone,
endless gardens of cold stone,
enemies who make peaceful amends,
enemies we now embrace as friends.

Ask yourselves, please,

How many?...

The first casualty of war is innocence

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