Mankind's empty legacy

Elegantly they stand
Statuesque vermillion soldiers
Sweet scented
At attention
Overseeing the meadows
Could that be why they were chosen?

To remember to protectors that had fallen
Those that had protected these dales
The snapping bulldogs
So young to die
Each year the vermillion brings a tear, to many an eye
Emblazoned on many a chest
Recognition of those put to the ultimate test

They said no more war
This would be the last
No more pain
Yet they send more to lie beneath the sod
More crushed vermillion soldiers
Wasted souls

Animated politicians
Argue for the need
Planting strife’s seed
Safely hidden in those marbled halls
Ignoring the loud peaceful calls
Shedding crocodile tears

At night, while the vermillion dies
Far from the dales where they belong
Hawkish bloodstained two-faced doves sleep
Far from the heat of hells gates

The morn brings more platitudes of regrets
Hollow sounds like their paper rattling sabres
Just words
Never meant
Necessary to prove they are right
The battle is far away, far from their sight

Shuffling the papers
Working on an economy of death
On a shoestring budget
Whilst all the time plotting
The next move for strife’s attention
In another quiet place
Another land so far away

Thinking up reasons
Extending the vermilions death seasons
For obscure half-truths they need
Always planting another seed
Maggots in the wounds they make
Just for wars sake

It is doubtful there will ever be an end
There will always be another place
Another bloody disgrace
More blood on the hand of man
Politically correct
Short-sighted intellect

We do not deserve this world
The one we scar
Pouring ever more vermillion into the ground
Gouging out the eyes of another’s humanity
Total madness, no sanity
Up to the day, we destroy it all
Those marbled halls will fall

Vermillion will spread across every land
Draining into the thirsty lifeless sand
Another silent planet
Holding only the ghosts of life
Barren empty sarcophagus
Without any words inscribed

There is a choice
More needed than one empty voice
Shouting alone in the wilderness
Not a utopian dream
No never-never land
No more lines drawn in the sand
More compassion
More give and take
Understanding
Less demanding
The question is can we evolve
Can we really care
Can we lock up the tools of war