Anti-War Poem

 Wreaths of blood red poppies
A minutes silence to remember
To commemorate the fallen
To show respect for sacrifice
I cannot join you
Heads bowed in prayer
Prayers for the dead
You honour their memory
I will not Join you
There’s no questioning why
Why they became the fallen
Why they had to die
Why they had to kill
The Valiant 306

Jack (17) crouched low
His back firmly against
The wall of the trench
He wiped the blood and
Shards of skull covering
His face and shoulders
An eye ball and chunk
Of jaw bone sat in his lap
Remains of George (18)
His best pal from home
He looked to his left
Larry (18) cried for his
Mother and his God
To help him, to save him
As he tried in vain
To stem the flow
From his bloody stumps
Jack looked to the right
Francis (16) lay slumped
Against the trench wall
Blood gushing from a
Single gun shot
Moaning and gurgling
As he drowned in
His own blood
Screaming and crying
All around, loud
Louder than gun shots
And mortar explosions
Jack (17) looses control
Bowels then bladder
Now smelling, wet and soiled
Fear takes over everything
He rolls into a ball
And rocks forwards and back
In the piss, shit, blood and mud
He covers both ears
And screams as tears
Stream sobbing uncontrollably
All of a sudden; stillness
“Get up BOY!”
“The Hun is that way
Get over the top you
Filthy coward”
Jack could see the shouting
But he couldn’t hear a word
He knew exactly what was
being asked of him
still sobbing he screamed
the most dangerous word
“NO!”
For saying no
Jack (17)
Was executed by
A firing squad
Of his own comrades
And buried un marked
A coward
Forgotten

We executed 306 valiant men
We murdered 306 brave souls
For being scared
For standing up in carnage
And saying No
They stood up against
Continuation of the slaughter
And their part in it
They were brave enough
To look death in the face
Tied to a post
Tied and repeatedly shot
A nations shame
Heroes forgotten
Branded as cowards
No commemoration

I cannot, will not
Join your parade
If you continue to
Ignore those you murdered
The valiant 306
Pardon them
Accept your shame
Accept your blame
Remember them as
Heroes walking a different path
Let me wear a poppy
To commemorate
Grandpa Jack

                  Their voices all are still - none yet remains;
                  Their Present now is History's sad tale,
                  A tale of battles, strategies, campaigns,
                  And youth consumed by slaughter's ceaseless flail.
                  
                  From sepia prints they look us in the eye,
                  Together, cocky, smoking, mate by mate,
                  They grin at us, tin helmets tipped awry,
                  But tears rise from our knowledge of their fate.
                  
                  We cannot glorify the war they fought,
                  We cannot hate the men they met in strife,
                  But rather, we must honour those who sought
                  On every side to barter death for life.
                  
                  A century has passed since that cruel war,
                  They rest in silent sadness, evermore.

i need a fight  
don't need a cause    
do no ask why    
just because    
i can    
the man    
i have    
to prove    
my worth    
this earth    
is mine    
    
violence?    
is fine    
so long    
i get    
my hands    
this land    
these lands    
ice      
deserts    
or sands    
i fight    
'cause might    
is right    
     
there can be no reason    
to deny    
me    
what's nature    
my nature    
by nature    
fight    
survive    
and thrive    
     
only the    
the fittest    
live(s)    
     
argument    
is in vain    
as pain    
has no place    
in nature    
     
the place    
is for the victor    
war      
never pretty    
weak      
never gritty    
     
i need war    
for your peace    
and ease    
to live    
so forgive    
when i do    
what i am      
born to    
     
it  
always      
was    
and      
always  
will be kill      
or be killed    
this is what    
nature    
willed    
     
free will?    
now what the hell is that?

This far divided land
 
Where the rice grows free
 
Has always had corrupt men
 
Stopping their life's dreams
 
It's in their veins
 
It's not that easy
 
To make it flow on out
 
For a thousand years
 
The same has been
 
Even when a million men
 
Wearing blue denim jeans
 
Came marching in
 
To change our ways
 
It's not what this is all about
 
While the people we trust
 
Pop out of man-made holes
 
And look like they've been
 
Tunnelling like moles
 
Where the enemy lines
 
Have stood for a thousand years
 
During the day
 
We're all so polite
 
But in the night
 
We all have to go and fight
 
The un-invited western men
 
Always seem to lose sight
 
Their communist fears
 
Were ingrained in their mothers womb
 
And will always end in tears
 
Where the streets smell of Pho
 
As you pass on by
 
And if looks could kill
 
If you dare to say hi
 
The aromatic love incense
 
Wafts in the fog filled air
 
Where the market crowds come
 
And traders buy and sell
 
The lonely planet guides
 
Write of this unusual smell
 
The local giggles should tell you
 
That you don't really belong there
 
So goodbye Hanoi
 
This time we can't ignore the flack
 
I'm going home
 
And I ain't ever coming back
 
My wife is waiting
 
To mend me back in one piece
 
We've had that awful feeling
 
Since it all became so fierce
 
I want to head home so bad
 
Now they've invaded our embassy
 
When they don't want our help for a truce
 
And it doesn't bring the change
 
That the westerners wanted to produce
 
So just leave it in the hands of ones own chosen destiny.

Do not die for me
I will not kill for you
Do not die for me
You should never have a reason to

I will not kill for you
Why is that so hard to understand?
So do not die for me
Your blood is not welcome on my hands

What price salvation, Lord?
These things that man will do
But to take a human life
There should never be a reason to

What price salvation, God?
That another man should die for me
And save the lives, with guns and bombs
Of the suppressed who would be free

Do not Die for me
I will not die for you
You need not die for me
Jesus already has

We were ordered by military law  
 
To elope, even before our boat had hit the shore  
 
The bullets knocked us about, thats for sure  
 
Dead cobbers scattered adrift, from the infantrys 1st corp  
 
Now some mates from my own platoon, 1, 2, 3 now 4  
 
Nobody should ever have to witness such gore  
 
Did not matter if you were rich or poor  
 
You were just a target, in this almighty war  
 
If the politicians demanded, they would easily send more  
 
Finally, the west encircled the mad beast, with a rambunctious roar  
 
But they let the Reds go forth, who savaged all the women, like a wild boar  
 
What was the main aim and what was the true meaning, deep down at its core, for this unholy friggin’ war?