Before listing my official engagements,
I’m sure the whole house will
Join me,
In paying tribute to Sgt. Bloggs,
Corporal Smith and Lt. Jones.
Onto more pressing matters...
Faces carved of blackest rock, in
Mirrored rows of polished buckle,
Indifferent to hosts of circling angels,
Yet to be woken at midnight. .
O noble soldier, most valiant soldier,
Why are you here, why are you there?
Why is your life worth less than mine
Most noble soldier?
From the womb to blooming life
Ignored in death as teen rooms.
Your kids you named
Now named
On news twenty-four
Draped in a thank-you.
Well thank-you!
You cry and cry to bells and chimes
For even love a hundred times
When said is meaningless.
As mothers grow embittered
As their sons lay littered
In dust, as unto dust
They shall return,
Premature, when barely sure
Of maturity, without a breath,
Just death and tributes,
Leaving tributes to death.
Would you sport our colourful Union-Jack?
A people who could have bought you back.
As all the glory here is yours,
When you’re told again and again
That weapons not warriors win wars.
Who knows what they fear,
Or even enjoy?