大象传媒

An old man looks back and he wonders...why do we do it?

I've seen them stand so proudly in khaki, grey or blue,
Each sworn upon their mother's head to Motherland be true.
Each vowing in their heart's mind for victory to strive,
Each sure that as they're young and fit they will come thro' alive.

And I've seen them lying there so cold and stiff and still...
Why, when we intended the others' blood to spill?
And all their coloured uniforms in mud look all the same,
It must have been the generals -yes- they're the ones to blame.

I only followed orders, God, I did as I was told,
And with the crowd I shouted that my birthright had been sold,
And admittedly was eager and hot to go to war,
Because the other countries were rich and we were poor.

My father taught me early the things that I must say,
Which I repeated faithfully when you got in my way,
"I know that I'm a Christian, but I will shoot you dead because you took a woman of a different church to bed."

It's all the fault of fathers-their children they condemn...
Don't they know if they'd forgot what others did to them,
Stop saying what their fathers said to justify their ends,
The children of the fathers could be others children's friends.

We chatted half a lifetime as neighb'ring fields we've tilled,
But I see my friend's apostate and as evil must be killed,
The Holy Teacher's tell me that it is Holy Writ,
There is no god but my God so my friend goes to the Pit.

But recently I've wondered by the body of my son,
If it was something that I said or something that I'd done,
Not the generals or teachers nor any other other one,
But someone nearer home than that-perhap my father's son?

Oh, I cheered them in their uniforms, blue, khaki, grey of late,
But, now I see what comes of it when we recite out hate.
It's our own fault they lie there so cold upon the mud-
And those we loved we set upon the path that spilled their blood.

Why can't we learn this lesson, be generous and give
The chance to other people to say their piece and live?
Why can't all men remember that their Earth's people share
A joint humanity of need for love and worth and care?
Is it so very difficult, who want ourselves this care.
to care for others in our turn, in fairness to be fair?

This story was submitted to the People's War website by a volunteer of the CSV Action Desk on behalf of John Pound and was added to the site with his permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

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