Remembrance Day

Etched in unforgiving stone
washed in bitter tears
blood red poppies do not atone
across the bitter years
the sadness and the loss
as each November nears
we mourn the glorious dead
as blood-strewn leaves are shed

There is for me no glory
in being simply dead
or killing for one’s country
however badly led
War the lethal custom
to which mankind is wed
that measures love of nation
by how much blood is shed

These Universal Soldiers
really are to blame
for their blind obedience
to fear of social shame
that condemns their precious sons
to replay the lethal game
Old men send the best of us
To die in duty’s name

One hundred years of war
has still not brought us peace
their restless souls accuse us
that we have not claimed release
from the force of selfish lies
whose shameful cries increase
Our debt to the glorious dead
that senseless violence must cease