Amongst dust and dirt
flying bullets end their lives,
destroy relatives
who wait with dread to hear news
which splinters the family.
Generations mourn
orphaned children, widowed wives.
Parents and siblings
acknowledge their loss, with tears,
with rage, with numb disbelief.
British boys and girls
fight wars in other countries,
die for an ideal.
The whole world should be asking -
is their sacrifice too much?
Offered for Toad's Open Link Monday today.
Quite!
ReplyDeleteWhen you think of the permutations in grief it causes.
It needs to be said louder and louder. A paper poppy is not enough.
Such a serious question ~ I think dying for the ideals so other countries may be safer - is too much. I say this in the context that these countries are not even appreciative of the sacrificies by "foreigners" ~
ReplyDeleteYes! Great question. Last night I watched In the Land of Blood and Honey, a realistic look at the war in Sarajevo and what it did to soldiers and citizens alike. Truly horrible.
ReplyDeleteThe real tragedy is the boys and girls don't know what on Earth they're doing there - Iraq. Afghanistan . . . We glorified a particular type of criminal with the name "terrorist" so that G.Walker Bush could send in the Army to do the police's job. And Blair brown-nosed alongside.
ReplyDeleteGood question. One we need to keep asking over and over until the fighting stops forever. I especially love how you begin this poem 'amid dust and dirt...' such ordinary things but such an extraordinary sacrifice.
ReplyDeleteWill we really ever reach the ideal of "until the fighting stops forever"? I think what Grace said has a lot of wisdom to it...
ReplyDelete