Just Once

Just once in Earth’s long history
Of wars and crimes, I’d like to see
A year of love, not misery.
But my desire is dumb at best
Unless my words convince the rest
That by their love they will attest
That evil’s good when it’s suppressed.


The endless war each year renews
From when Assyrians fought the Jews
To Caesar’s march nearby the Meuse
With many later conflicts still,
In every valley, up every hill
And in the ocean, Bougainville,
More recently, among Tamil.


And now we see another war,
Another one at Europe’s door,
The Russian playing manticore.
And as they have in all wars past
The innocent will not outlast
The end so easy to forecast
With all their bodies then amassed.


One wonders whether nothing’s new
From land to land, and me to you;
Persistent hate and anger, too,
Reveals all culture as quite tribal
And shows that war is archetypal.
It lies within the homicidal,
And surfaces as genocidal.


We see war’s workings in Ukraine;
We see the death and the pain
Where peace and love do not restrain
The ancient drive just to destroy
The nun, the baker, and plowboy.
The tanks that mass in long convoy
Have but one goal: It isn’t joy.


The bellicose continue loud
And beat war’s drum before the crowd;
The cheering mob shouts “Mushroom cloud!”
They somehow think the bombs will end
The threat they think that some intend.
“They must be evil, so they must bend
To what we want or face their end.”


The episodic tale’s retold
With all new people in the mold.
Remember hence that I foretold.
When this war’s done, another will
Arise upon a Bunker Hill
And blood will flow in every rill.
Our offspring shout not “Peace,” but “Kill!”