You parade those poppies with unthinking zeal
Knowing nothing of how we feel
We, the unseen and untouched
Who bought their lies and paid so much
We, the dead, are always here
And we awake this time, every year
To watch with sadness and dismay
The flowers placed, where we lay
And still the lies are bought and sold
And you keep doing what you’re told
“Support our boys!” They say you must
But They are unworthy of your trust
The Afghan bleeds when he’s shot
And never asked for what he got
The Iraqi, too, bleeds when cut
As the life he had, spills from his gut
Commemorate us not with lies and hate
Make a stand, it’s not too late
Repay us best, erase our stain
Say this year, ‘never again’
[If anyone knows who owns the copyright to the image, please let me know so I can credit the appropriate parties]
Beautifully, painfully put.
Thank you very much, Mick
I’m seriously out of the habit of writing poetry but this one just spilled out onto the page in about 2 minutes. No revisions, no corrections, I just wrote it down as soon as I thought it. Weird how that happens sometimes :-/