Sunday, November 11, 2007
  WE SHALL REMEMBER THEM
War
By Joseph Leftwich

Over the World
Rages war.
Earth, sea and sky
Wince at his roar.
He tramples down
At every tread,
A million men,
A million dead.

We say that we
Must crush the Hun,
Or else the World
Will be undone.
But Huns are we
As much as they.
All men are Huns,
Who fight and slay.

And if we win,
And crush the Huns,
In twenty years
We must fight their sons,
Who will rise against
Our victory,
Their fathers’, their own
Ignomity.

And if their Kaiser
We dethrone,
They will his son restore,
Or some other one.
If we win by war,
War is force,
And others to war
Will have recourse.

And through the World
Will rage new war.
Earth, sea and sky
Will wince at his roar.
He will trample down
At every tread,
Millions of men,
Millions of dead.

It never ceases to amaze me how old poems can feel so contemporary, and be as relevant and insightful as this one.
Picture is from http://www.falklandsfew.org.uk/ just to remind us to remember the more recent conflicts.
  12:26 AM 1 comments links to this post