THE RIGHT TO
SHOUT FOR PEACE
There is no liberation
and peace will not play host
while war is still an option
and soldiers stand a post.
The grim results of conflict
are not confined to death
murder, rape and torture
precede the final breath
of women, children and the aged,
from horror they are not spared,
who by the dint of geography
just happen to live there.
As the fodder falls in fields
and brave men face their mirrors
the politicians give their orders
where the air is safe and clearer;
for its never them that stands a post
that’s only for the gallant.
Their only fight was for the votes
assigning death, their only talent.
Crooked lads still stagger on
their gaze on the horizon
As mates fall by the wayside
Through war’s bloody endless syphon.
I don’t admire or praise a war;
I’ll scream for it to cease
But I’m proud of those who gave me
the right to shout for peace
(for Albert, KIA Lone Pine; Jim, WIA Lone Pine; Arthur, WIA Villers
Bretenaux; and Tommy, WIA New Guinea. Thanks lads. You painted freedom across
the Southern Cross and earned me the right to speak)
Copyright from "Poems At A Social Distance" (2022)
