This is a poem I penned a few months ago.
We are told
Coyly cajoled
To anticipate victory
Flags wave
We behave
As if it was meant to be
With every death
Gasping breath
Resolve is supposed to deepen
Till debt is paid
For every grave
We are chided not to weaken
It seems inane
Surely insane
To follow this logic through
We buy the lie
Exchange right
For a tough man’s stunted view
On battlefields
Clarity yields
To prior and distant choices
Ill-conceived
Blindly-believed
Ignoring wiser voices
Quagmire ensues
Still we choose
To pursue paths of violence
On it goes
Till who knows
So long as most keep silence
