Why wage war?

This poem is about war, and about one particular war which I'l leave it to you to figure out.

The leaves fall off the tree.

Clock ticking a second late.

Fire as far as the eye can see

Land consumed with utter hate.

Helpless ants frozen in terrorized states,

as death comes from all four sides

Where to go when no place is safe?

Fear drowning the land like a tide.

I ask, Why?

Why the rain of fear?

Why the wind of hate?

Why fight amongs ourselves?

Because our enemies have been brought down to it's knees.

Long ago.

Far Long ago.

We, are evil, down to the very core.

Everyone one of us, and all those before.

We laugh, and we cry, as we wage war.

The good guys do not always win.

So we won, won through sin.

We rise above, as the others gaze.

And make them our slaves.

A few of the enemy still have pace

and with help of our own race,

are trying to fight a finished battle.

The others, just sigh and wear the saddle. 

Author's Note

DO NOT READ UNTIL YOU'VE READ THE POEM!!










This poem is about wars, true, but it is also about cruelty to animals. The poem states that it is human nature for it to wage war. "We are evil, down to the very core" So, once the whole world has been conquered by human kind, they turned on each other.

Reviews

[RDOriginal]

This is a powerful anti-war poem with a hidden subtext which personally eluded me somewhat.

When reading this poem I found the first two stanzas a little out of place. They didn't feel like they were setting a scene or preparing the reader for what is to come. They're well written but their fairly abstract nature doesn't match the rest of the poem. As a result I see them as being more suited as an interesting side track in fairly traditional poem such as this.

However, the third stanza makes the direction of the poem very clear. The reader is attacked with a series of statements that in addition to posing questions also shows the narrators strong opinion. By using metaphors such as 'rain of fear' and 'wind of hate' there is a very clear indication that this is a subject that is passionately cared for by the narrator.

The final stanzas are much more aggressive in nature. There is venom in lines such as, 'we, are evil, down to the very core' and 'so we won, won through sin'. Using such emotive language with such a strong opinion will generally galvanize the reader in support of the cause and I think this does work very effectively. It certainly made me think about issues such as the concept of a 'just war'.

Do not read this paragraph until you've read the poem and authors note... The final line is the only hint I could find of the cruelty to animals issue without making something of a leap of faith (e.g. interpreting 'make them our slaves' as a barb at animal ownership). I don't know how many readers would pick up on your second theme without the note. I guess this issue perhaps underlines the difficulty in guiding the reader to make the discovery themselves whilst also not having to rely on hitting them around the head with the literary equivalent of a brick!

[Addie]

I really like the rhymes. Very powerful. Good Job =]

[Desert Dreamer]

I feel in your poem this war our culture wages against nature, animals and other humans. I disagree that it is human nature to wage war, but it is part of the culture to which we belong. Not all humans wage war, maybe they fight as all animals do, but that is far from being the constant war against everything that I see around me in this culture that I despise. Your poem is well written and I have enjoyed reading it, and especially like the way you have included the war against nature in it...we are slowely destroying our beautiful world and many non-warring cultures are dying as well. Thanks for sharing.

[Coyote Poetry]

Your words are true. The winner are always the chosen one's. The loser are the bad guys. Rarely is the truth written correctly. Vietnam was a rare victory for the underdog. Afghanistan won the long war with the powerful Russian. Now the USA is in other folks business. I wonder when the world will learn to allow each country to solve their own internal problems. A powerful poem. You made me think.
Coyote

[r]

Whoa... This is an amazingly, dark, sad, sorrowed, emotional poem. I don't know what much to say other than that.

[Angie Diane♥&hea..]

This was a good poem. I hate war...it saddens me. Especially WWII because of all the innocent people that got killed. I loved this peace...I would love to know the answer too..but it explains it in the Bible...that nation would be against nation. Thanks for sharing. :)