Tannishblog

A Tannish original, for Memorial Day, 2005

Give homage to our precious dead,
All those who do remain.
For policy and rhetoric,
For senseless death, in vain.
For principles and politics,
We send our young to die.
A grieving mother’s tear-stained face,
So plainly wonders why.

Send tribute to our newly lost,
Our love, it cannot die.
Kneel beside their fresh-turned graves,
Beneath the perfect sky.
Question all that brings such pain,
That God and Man forfend.
And send a prayer into the void,
Such folly soon will end.

Pay respects to Ideologues,
Who send your youth to die.
Why kiss the Ring of Priviledge,
To kiss their souls goodbye?
The Evil that is on this Earth,
Resides in any man,
Who sends our young to die for him,
As if that is God’s plan.

To die in the name of Freedom,
Is viewed as lofty praise.
Is politics superior
To the children that we raise?
At what point will we look about,
To see what is insane:
To kill in the name of Freedom,
Devalues what is gained.

I thank all Veterans for being brave enough to sacrifice themselves for their beliefs. I hope that humankind can learn better ways to solve differences other than by military force and by killing. I wonder how long humanity will continue to justify murder to promote ideological abstractions.

Mostly, I worry we will not survive ourselves.