Response To War
Response To War
“War, No More!”
cried the frail pontiff,
Paul VI. in language
as straight as a fired bullet.
War, no sense is
an a response
as appropriate
as applause at
a gorgeous sunset
in the bay side
of a summer resort.
Thousands killed
sons, husbands, fathers.
Even more thousands
tortured and maimed
in the name of civil obedience.
Old men sitting around
the cocktail lounge,
having sent young men
to defend “national security.”
Old men ordering another
comfortable drink while
waiting for the poll numbers.
The wounded herded
into anonymous hospitals,
forgotten by the masses,
their heroic obedience ignored
or, sadly, even scorned.
Their bodies, their lives
never again to be whole.
War no more
war no sense.
“War, No More!”
cried the frail pontiff,
Paul VI. in language
as straight as a fired bullet.
War, no sense is
an a response
as appropriate
as applause at
a gorgeous sunset
in the bay side
of a summer resort.
Thousands killed
sons, husbands, fathers.
Even more thousands
tortured and maimed
in the name of civil obedience.
Old men sitting around
the cocktail lounge,
having sent young men
to defend “national security.”
Old men ordering another
comfortable drink while
waiting for the poll numbers.
The wounded herded
into anonymous hospitals,
forgotten by the masses,
their heroic obedience ignored
or, sadly, even scorned.
Their bodies, their lives
never again to be whole.
War no more
war no sense.
posted by The Ronald | 8:45 AM
1 Comments:
Thank you for your poem against war. I find I'm losing my patience with those who advocate death and destruction. Who refuse the hard road of reconciliation and diplomacy for the quick results of "shock and awe". Oops, those results didn't come very quick, did they? I'm worn at the idea that most Americans will never be at the receiving end of their terrifying war machine. They will never tend to those whose machinery maimed and psychologically tortured those that they so lovingly "saved". Christ is present in our enemies; oh surely he is. And surely loving our enemies is not killing them. Christ dined and invited others in who disagreed with him. He did not support their sinful habits and systems and structures with tax dollars. How will our enemies ever be converted if we do not show them how to live as Christ did? Hope does not come in the form of a bomb. It comes in the form of a well-honed and long-suffered Christ-shaped identity. It comes through love. Love and war are incompatible. Did Christ teach pre-emptive strikes or cheek-turning? God, give me mercy that I may not become that which now plagues me as having no place in your gospel of peace; that I may be merciful to those who oppose your will. Vengeance is yours, not ours.
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