Life is so precious and fragile
Yet we do not seem to care or fear,
As the number of dead in graveyards
Keeps piling up year after year.
The foreign campaigns and missions
Are prepared, then justified with lead,
Men and women protect loved ones
Leave on their feet, and return dead.
Our fears of the foreign ones is pressing
Their ways are more precious than gold,
But like us they only have one goal
It's to raise families in peace and die old.
Our greed and our tribal ways lead us
Into temptation of conquering them all,
Whether it is to control them through fear
Or stubbornly build a strong southern wall.
When your table is long and there is plenty
To go around to share and to give,
Conquer your fear of not being worthy
And put away your knife, gun and live.
Live for those who have given you
The strength to stop hating incessantly,
Love the ones who are not from your tribe
Especially those who think differently.
I sit here and think of the mothers
Who gave up their young to die quick,
While others return with nightmares
And of course we don't treat our sick.
Their heroic acts torture them nightly
Weigh heavily on their battered souls,
We have to think and do better by them
And fill their hearts not just their bowls.
Remember the ones have fought bravely
Think hard before sending more in,
The meat grinder that is war time
Doesn't care if you have mother or kin.
Charlie Toth Nov 11, 2019
Nothing like a good anti-war poem the way they used to write them, especially on Remembrance Day, and local poet Charlie Toth delivers. More about Charlie and his new book of poetry here.
See also: Halifax Remembers Peace: K’jipuktuk 2019 – A Remembrance Day ceremony with a difference
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