Showing posts with label war. Show all posts
Showing posts with label war. Show all posts

Outside Looking In

I'm outside looking in
and I'm staring in bewilderment 
at an historical situation 
a political situation
which now has become a military situation 
an argument
a disagreement about rights 
a conflict of opinions 
over lands
and ownership of lands
about the rights - or not
to be on those lands
different factions
different peoples
about their faiths and beliefs 
their opinions - differing opinions
I see people that aren't listening to the words that many are saying
to the advice that is being given
from allies - those who support and supply them
to the mothers who are begging
to the men who are fighting
to children who are dying
to the politicians who are negotiating  
across borders
across contested borders
to those who launch the missiles
their supporters supplied
into lands they call their own
to kill 
to change minds
to change history 
to displace 
people they disagree with
to kill their leaders 
to cut off the heads of the groups they despise 
sat in lands that they believe are theirs
and with fingers on triggers 
and with fingers in ears
some minds set only on what has gone before
making peace a thin vaneer
as fragile as porcelain
these factions will maintain their ground
what little ground they have
but ground they will fight over
in order to keep
for although an international agreement was signed
it was one which not all could agree to
and one which many still disagree over
an agreement which stamped the borders we see now
onto the most unstable part of the world 
an arrangement not all the aggrieved partners took as gospel 
an agreement which saw people displaced from homes
political factions
and locations
neatly set-up 
on top of historical peoples
whose armed factions are prepared to fight to the last man standing 
over their right to be
to be where they believe in
to be where they believe their right is
and where they are prepared to kill 
to keep
kill or be killed
the ideologies are engrained over millennia 
in which all believe 
they are right
but as days pass
over the days I've written this piece
I've observed - and had to write more
to rewrite
for
things have got worse
a change
not for the better
not towards an end - a peaceful end
but more war...

Will this ever end?


War

This is an arena of war 
conflict amidst primeval 
tribal
unreasoning support 
support for their soldiers 
their colours displayed
war paint across faces
stood amongst their own
flags with village names proudly displayed
allegiances laid bare as this battle commences 
Sergeants leading the men
jumping up and down they scream
arms around each others shoulders
they become soldiers of war
as if prepared to fight
prepared to die
chanting well rehearsed songs
jeering incorrect decisions 
cheering progress on the battle field in front of them
mocking those in charge 
worshiping their Generals 
mauning the loss 
saluting their warriors in winning 
the battle
winning the war 
the war that is this game

...this game of football

War Is Never

I am a pacifist 
I believe war is never the answer 
I believe one life lost in a war 
is one too many.
I was never a soldier
I never fought in a war 
I was never pushed out of the back of an aeroplane
to dangle by a thread
dropping to a probable death
high over enemy held territory - and neither was my father.

He and his father - my Grandad
lived in a pit village
my Grandad worked in a coal mine
coal mining was a reserved occupation 
and as such
miners were not called-up to fight for their country in conventional ways
he worked to dig out coal 
the coal the country needed to fight a war
for its power stations
power for its factories 
factories to make munitions 
munitions to fight a war
coal to power the trains to get it to where it was needed
so my Grandad was never a soldier either- unless you count being in the 'Home Guard' as being a soldier
ready in the evenings and weekends when he wasn't working at the pit
he never belonged to a regiment 
he never fought and died in a famous battle
he never lost endless comrades.
he never got any medals
and is not buried in a far off land

Now don't think I don't care
don't believe I can't see what those who fought and died - gave
for I know so many gave everything.
My relatives gave
but they gave in a different way.

My thinking is shaped by my history 
as much as yours is too
I don't sit and muse over my Grandparents medals - as perhaps you might
I don't have their uniforms in my loft
nor have I copies of their war records.

If you think harshly of what you've just read - read my words again.

...I believe war is never the answer.