Not absent - still here!
Keep Calm and Carry On Poeming. š
War veterans, saviours reputed for
Courage, bravery, qualities revered
By all those who feel the violence in war
And know its outcomes are much to be feared.
War veterans deserve our sympathy,
Not praise; for when recruited, they may know
Death, or impairment of mind and body
In order that General’s pensions can grow.
Then who are heroes with no wish to maim?
Conscientious objectors loathe the shrill
Veneration of war; this not their game,
Nor is it their wish to go out and kill.
Reviled, imprisoned, the conchie baffles
Many with dogma that glorifies war,
Who churn and regurgitate won battles -
Gung ho insanity all should abhor.
When will this real courage be understood?
It’s hardly likely in this time and place.
Ready for the next; ‘defense’ seen as good,
As rancid statements of war grow apace.
-
Author:
Doggerel Dave (Pseudonym) (
Offline) - Published: March 26th, 2022 00:33
- Category: Unclassified
- Views: 58
- Users favorite of this poem: Fay Slimm.
Offline)
Comments9
True words Dave, those who send the people to war never get hurt.
Andy
https://youtu.be/uyoJn8Ebb7I
Keeping an eye on you has its own rewards, Andy. You lead me into fresh musical pastures almost every day.
Hereās my return (I wonāt say āenjoyā):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrXxACZRx30
That is quite some song Dave, so very meaningful.
Andy
War's devastation penned with linguistic excellence - - a most compelling read Dave - - veterans deserving sympathy for being used as fodder for further top-brass pensions is something with which I totally agree - -- this powerful verse has been sent to my list of favourites and thanks for sharing your views on those refusing to kill.
Many thanks for that, Fay I put quite a lot of effort into this one , and still don't feel totally satisfied...clunky in places with the odd good lines. However, compelled to do it before I disappear for a while (hospital - knee joint replacement - April 5)
Pathetic isn't it "I'll have my men sent in to kill your men and children" and what does it achieve? What did any great war achieve twenty five years later?
I think Sting says it all in his "childrens crusade" back in the 80's.
Yours a poignant piece in light of what we see in the world today and have seen time and again in history. Yes we must respect veterans who faced the bullets in ignorance of our "finer, mature late in the day wisdom". It is by luck alone our own younger days were not ended in war in an exertion of our own youthful zest for combat stirred into action by politics.
Thanks dusk. Spot on. Total futility. Havenāt happened upon Sting, but if in turn you havenāt come across Red Gumās āI was only 19ā Iāve left a link to it on Andyās spot upstairs.
During that war I, resident in Australia and 19, was required to register for military service. Whether or not I served depended on a ballot, which I didnāt āwinā. Only lottery result Iāve ever been happy with.
I was born into war. Hatched 1941 in Londonās East End, lack of food, air raid sirens, Anderson shelter, bombing and smoke, all of which I remember quite vividly have left me with a number of deficits I have no intention of parading here.
Any wonder I approach this topic with rather more involvement than a number of poets here?
A very powerful and well written poem. Kudos to you for telling the true tale of war. My husband was drafted during the Vietnam War, fortunately he was sent to Germany and never saw combat. He had friends who did go, and came back very different people, one didn't come back at all. For the first time, we saw on TV, the horror of war and people reacted. And now it is played out 24/7 on cable news and people are reacting. How long before we become proactive in preventing instead of reactive with killing? Those who serve deserve far better.
Thanks Bella for taking the time to read. I'm afraid much of what I could tell you I've already laid out in my responses above. Please feel free to sneak a look. The Vietnam war was particularly ill conceived. But probably no more than all the others......
Take care
No punches pulled & quite rightly so you old dog .......... well penned my friend ............ am glad we are on the same side cap'n ... Neville
Thanks Neville - still not the best it perhaps could be, so fiddling. However I don't want to become so obsessed with polish that the message is diluted.
Hope Red Gum and my somewhat lengthy response to dusk above make sense.
I'm always amazed when one deluded man declares war, the others see fit to join in the madness. Soldiers do the job they signed up for, when they get injured, they get forgotten.
Thanks Paul. 'Trouble is, the soldiers often don't sign up, they are drafted.
Yeah, definitely, I think that's why Russian soldiers are killing their officers.
You make a good point. You would think that we would have reached a point where killing our fellow men for the good of money makers or power minded would no longer be tolerated.
Changing people's minds and the removal of the powerful is going to be a long job, I fear, Soren - a little like water on rock. My watery tears embodied in the piece above and my responses in the thread are my contributions to the trickle.
Thanks for the exhumation, this piece is one I'm proud to have written.
Intriguing, poignant,
captivating and true! š¢
I agree šÆ percent
with you!! š
Great share Dave!!
Best regards āļø Thad
Phew! And a very Gāday to you Thadā¦
Have wondered for the longest time what a retired army Texan would thinkā¦ goes to showā¦ really didnāt believe, given your work hereā¦but yer neva knowā¦very happy I was right.š
Cheers my friend.š
Reading this felt like being hit by tons of unadorned truth. What a poem! Isn't too much truth injurious to health? Loved it thoroughly!
Thanks for that.
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