I wrote this poem on the eve of Desert Storm. It seems a fitting meditation for Veterans Day.
the drums rasped out
a martial tattoo
the day that you were born
the day that cain slew abel
and invented war
since then
you've fought a million battles
from jericho to desert storm
wounded
bleeding
never dying
soldier of misfortune
the old men keep on starting wars
you're always there to fight them
from thermopylae to dienbienphu
you marched in lockstep
into the valley of the shadow
never ever wondering why
soldier of misfortune
ah the horrors
your eyes have seen
the bodies torn and mangled
women raped
children burned
names changed to protect the guilty
and yet you march off
one more time
when the call to arms is sounded
soldier of misfortune
through every battle
every war
the carnage keeps increasing
unimaginable suffering
that solves nothing
that prepares the way
for more unimaginable suffering
the carrion eaters grow sleek and fat
the children are starving
soldier of misfortune
remember back a few score years
when you fought the war to end war
slogging through soggy trenches
lungs seared by poison gas
we still don't know
why that war hapened
and yet we've fought
a hundred more since then
soldier of misfortune
someday
maybe
that call will come
and you'll no longer answer
someday
maybe
you'll have had enough
someday
maybe
like that other great warrior
you will fight no more
forever
soldier of misfortune
Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose.
Veterans Day, 2002
7:30:39 PM 
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