To fight overseas
\nIn the many great wars
\nThat were probably stomped up by those
\nPoliticians with so much to gain
\nFrom the carnage
\nIt does keep us all on our toes<\/p>\n
Thrown into the battle of somewhere
\nExpected to kill and to maim
\nTo send little children off to their nirvana
\nBecause anyone out there is game<\/p>\n
The dirty work is done by the soldiers
\nThey are on the ground in it all
\nThe rulers they carry on being corrupt
\nIts men in the battle that fall<\/p>\n
Its the intimacy that is awful
\nThe blood and the snot that they see
\nVictims left lying all over the place
\nThe relations of someone they be<\/p>\n
Paid to kill that was their mission
\nThe discord is there and some feel
\nSo little in common with what they are doing
\nAnd for years this they just might conceal<\/p>\n
THe veterans travelled to Standing Rock camp
\nImmersing themselves in it all
\nTHe aura of prayer and what they saw there
\nWhen they really heeded the call<\/p>\n
They had within them the orders to go
\nAnd kneeled down and begged that they be
\nForgiven for crimes against indigenous people
\nIts very easy to see<\/p>\n
Soldiers are pawns on a chessboard
\nArms sales and regime change goes
\nGreat families making vast profits
\nMany are fodder for crows<\/p>\n
Giving their lives for a pittance
\nThe Professional soldier He be
\nTheir to do all of the dirtiest work
\nWhilst the diplomats earn naturally<\/p>\n
The mind is a muscle of measure
\nIt milks all the shit that it sees
\nIts all bottled up in the psyche
\nTo convulse and confuse and to seize<\/p>\n
The emotion that came with the seeing
\nEach sequel from beginning to end
\nThe death of some friends in the tank you were driving
\nThat curdling message does send<\/p>\n
Its feelings out into your body
\nYou live with it all of the time
\nWhen you smile it is waiting to express itself
\nBut there isn’t a reason to rhyme<\/p>\n
And so being called to an encampment
\nWhere mercenaries do occupy
\nSome parts of ones darkest emotion
\nThey see themselves like any guy<\/p>\n
Paid to kill, a paid assassin
\nBut in this scenario where
\nAll the the protectors
\nAre Peaceful offering love
\nWith their prayer<\/p>\n
And seeing them beaten and broken
\nShot through and taized and the rest
\nMilitarized forces now being used
\nCriminal practice at best<\/p>\n
Elders and children and women
\nAnd young warriors all are taking the flack
\nThey are there to protect the water
\nAnd many got shot in the back<\/p>\n
It makes you recall how in war time
\nYou perhaps did things that you
\nRegretted but it just took over
\nAnd you didnt know what to do<\/p>\n
So going along to the protest
\nAnd aiding these people you felt
\nA wave of complete understanding
\nAnd before them well you just knelt<\/p>\n
Down asking for their forgiveness
\nThat sensory feeling inside
\nYou were moved by the weight of compassion
\nAnd with empathy how they relied<\/p>\n
And you indentified the paid people
\nProfessional soldiers who kill
\nAnd maim for a living
\nThats what they are giving
\nEmpathy it never will<\/p>\n
Prove much to them in the long run
\nThey are beyond feeling sad
\nThey dont have the genes for it
\nThey are just monsters
\nCoddled and pickled and bad<\/p>\n
So to feel rhat great wave of emotion
\nThat curtain of prayer in the sky
\nTo be moved by that honest protection
\nA reason to heal and not lie<\/p>\n
To regret and let the heart burn for a while
\nBe sadder be wiser be sure
\nIts an analgesic it comes from within
\nA curative really and more<\/p>\n
And the affect on the indigenous people
\nAnd others that watch far away
\nIts a precious parable it is real goodness
\nThat brightens the darkest of day<\/p>\n
Thank you TINA SELsmark for inspiring me to write this poem
\nBased on your touching explanation of the veterans at Standing Rock<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
To fight overseas In the many great wars That were probably stomped up by those Politicians with so much to gain From the carnage It does keep us all on our toes Thrown into the battle of somewhere Expected to … Continue reading