Poetry - just one more war


by rick davidson


i’ll not die again.
no more,
i’ve had it:
wars, wars, wars
and more wars
have cost me too much.
shit,
what’s it for?

To win a bit of land:
a dollar more
for what?
to place my name on a list
that’s too damn long
in the first place?

win - ha, die you mean.
die dead
for god, mother and country. . . .
flags of all the nation states
don’t fly high enough
to try for, to die for, even to live for.

and of soul,
shall i go once more to the cliff,
jump over the edge
to death below
to be resurrected when,
always when,
you need me for just one more war?

“hell no, we won’t go”
youth sang through the sixties.

won’t go.
no way. . . . . class my ass. . . . .
it’s power struck everyone - everyone except the dead.
yes, hiroshima’s come and gone
and we haven’t learned a thing.
not a goddamn thing.

“just one more war”
is the call.

the brave stand still - silent
as the fearful
set out
to kill us all.
“just one more war”
is all it will take.

Posted: Sat - February 1, 2003 at 08:04 PM          


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