Constant War

In Body Bags with Severed Legs

We never learn from history.
Young men romanticize their lust for war,
the common threads and constant mistakes
are endless themes which
politicians use to blaze a path and show the way
with greed and craft
“On to victory they say.
“We’ll be home before Christmas.”
The mothers and wives weep and wait
while the foolish men
thrill to some patriotic rush.

Empires may rise and fall yet
we still choose another Dieppe, Somme
Kuwait, or Iraq to raise the banner where
the brash young men go for glory, their torn
bodies returning home in black body bags, or
the lucky ones live their discontented lives
with severed legs
and broken dreams.
Allowing the next generation to pick up our quarrel
with our foes only to do it all over again.