THE ROMANCE OF WAR
Our young should know of war:
That pre-historic way
Men found to wound . . . to slay . . .
To smear the land with gore!
Our young should early learn
That slaughter can be done
To groups, as well as one;
No mercy to discern.
It might be well to teach
That twisted minds delight
In barbarism’s sight;
‘Though claims to ‘order’ preach.
To help our young ignore
The horror and the hell,
We’ve made a myth, and well:
The fine romance of war!
This knowledge to bestow,
We should with passion yearn.
War’s TRUTH our young should learn;
But war they should not KNOW!
!!!!!!
BATTLEFIELD REUNION
Here we meet, don’t you know?
Comrades now without foe.
Here we camp and recall battle scenes.
Now we sit by our tents,
to compare past events,
As we feast on a soup made with beans.
Here we laugh and we sing
while we have us a fling,
For tonight we will not have a care.
Yes, the kettles will steam
and old comrades will beam,
While the mem’ries of combat we share.
So, we mingle with pride
and take aging in stride.
Soon our spirits are fully restored.
Of our nation we brag
and salute us a flag;
Then we pause to give thanks to the Lord.
But, I voice my dismay at the closing of day,
As we rest under moon’s gentle light:
Should we not shed a tear
for dead comrades so dear,
Who still haunt our old campground tonight?
~~~~~
THE GREAT WALL
Across ten thousand hills it snaked its way
And, as the largest structure ever made,
Yet stands, a muted monument, today,
To organizing genius there displayed.
T’was built, we’re told, to benefit all those
Who’d live in later centuries . . . safe . . . secure.
“A life was spent for ev’ry stone that rose.”
A price quite small to keep a culture pure.
But, when the Khan desired his Hordes sent forth,
Sung land was as a pantry filled with ants.
The thousands ran, with ease, out of the North,
To clamber o’er the Wall in their advance.
One must conclude: It simply wasn’t built
To help protect the peasant or his land;
But, to maintain a dynasty in gilt,
Against a fearsome Mongol warrior band.
We’d hope a lesson might from this be learned:
‘Tis wrong to sacrifice someone today,
For benefits presumed, once night has turned;
‘Cause Fate may change all factors on the way!
Too many structures have been dearly built,
On footings made of human flesh and frame;
Some structures are of architectural tilt.
Far worse are those political in name.
In recent years, in that brave land so old—
That land where Wisdom’s said to have been born—
More innocents have died, a million-fold;
While loved ones, by the hundred millions, mourn.
Digest, then, one small truth, Friend, if you can:
Do not abuse frail life for any plan!
~~~~~~
From the historical Great Wall of China to the Wall of Names for the United States, all peoples cry out when a loved one dies. Especially in war... How do people accommodate to the loss, while at the same time knowing that their child might have died in vain... For this great war or that one, never to know when one or two power-hungry leaders will decide to take your son or daughter to "defend" our lives for this or that reason...
Can we feel pride in that child who made the decision to act on behalf of our countries? Of course we can. Yet, at the same time, we can feel the loss, the pain, wondering how and when the pain will finally go away, now that their child will never come back...
Yet we must ponder... What is the difference of losing our children to never-ending war, while we also know we lose our most precious school children because of the instruments of war that proliferate the lives of those who live in homes where guns are readily available and even taught to our children, so that, when it becomes some magical appropriate age, they can be taught to learn how to kill with those guns... Some will be for food that they carry a gun; the majority carry a gun because they can, for no other reason than to show that they possess a power to "kill" whenever they want...
Guy Graybill, in my opinion, has presented us with four short stories about the act--the romance--of war... Yet, he provides a concurrent look at those who give up a child when they do not return home to their family... Yes, we commemorate those deaths--it seems we all feel that we must "do something" in recognition to lives lost... Many picnics and family gatherings are held on Memorial Day. But perhaps after a quick prayer, what is actually done to recognized the life of lost children?
I was impressed that so many new writers have written some wonderful songs for 2026. I have chosen from that group instead of those that have become "traditional" songs for the day, simply from year after years of the same type of celebration...
Today, however, after reading Guy's words more carefully, I find, once again, that I turn away from "tradition..." This is not a traditional time of war, is it? You can feel it across the nation--across the world... Now that we are able to communicate with those in different lands, and see the sight of children and others lying dead, civilians who are caught in wars created by those men who decide they want to play war and gain some type of recognition for doing so--or worse, have people across the world see the messes that have been caused, as people's homes are bombed, to see them walking to another land, sometimes walking back until the next battle begins...or becoming homeless, left to those who are able to bring them to another land where they have no home or shelter, no means of gaining a life that may become better, if allowed before another autocrat decided they don't deserve to be where they are and ship them off to some other place where they may or may not be welcomed...
Tell me, you who are committed to any religion... Why have you turned away from a loving eternal being who you claim to be your god? For me, I had chosen to follow Jesus when God gave us His Son...
Yet, even at that time, many turned away from that Gift... They chose Barabbas... Or they chose to continue to follow a religion that was based upon thousands of years of previously written words and rituals, believing that only in absolute following of rules and regulations that they would come to know God... Believing that they must give sacrificies in order to be seen and known by the Great I Am... How little did we listen to the words of the ancients...
Even in Biblical times, there was war, war and more wars... Yet, when Jesus was born, all of that was to be put aside...
Yet, right now, yes, right now, we are in the midst of a cold war within the United States...where murders occur on the streets, children are sexually abused and more by those who choose to act only because they see it as something or somebody who deserves to have the best--the young, the unblemished...How dare they! Right now, as one of the songs says, there is a division between the red and the blue... But there is also a war going on just for the pleasure of one man...He's destroying our national monuments, proclaiming his name as the owner... And there seems to be a minority, with money, who enjoy the misery that is being caused... He claims he has won 8 wars, which were never declared officially... And certainly had not compared in scope to the ugly hatret we discovered against Germany's Hitler, when millions were destroyed because of religion! In fact, many now think that Christian Nationalists are the group who should be running the United States... You know who they are...They invated the Capitol on Januaary 6th, threatened to hang Mike Pense and other leaders of Congress, and, now, with glee are thinking that the president is going to pay them for the damage, the deaths caused at the Capitol, because they did it as requested by the president at that time, based upon false claims that he had actually won the election...
As we look to the next national holiday, July 4th, and recognize the significance of the years, we MUST watch as priority is being used to create monuments to this president at the same time, as many people are now unable to meet basic needs while the republican party has stolen funds for private airplanes, military weapons that are being made by companies in which the president's family have interest and riches are pouring in... In fact, while The United States was given the Statue of Liberty to symolically recognize how America had opened our arms to millions across the world... we now see, for instance, the president stealing the look of a monument from France, I believe, while destroying the concept of lighting that made the nearby water display so spectacular...while claiming that we the people want a ballroom for the white house to be built by our money--money that many could use to feed their children, or buy clothes for school for them...
Folks, I never could have imagined that I, along with all people across the world, would have seen the day when large corporations and those rich men who do not pay comparable tax rates as we do, would be the ruling class of destruction to our Democracy... I still fail to comprehend how this could have happened--meaning, that I had been too naive to comprehend that many people care little about anything but themselves! May God forgive our Blindness...
Gabby
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