ivor .e hogg - Who Pays?

When I was young and in my prime.
My country taught me how to kill,
a duty that I must fulfil.
To kill a foe was not a crime.

Dehumanise the enemy
it makes it easier to fight
another man who’s much like me.
Who also thinks his cause is right.

In days of old when hand to hand
men battled for supremacy.
A man could know and understand
the man who was his enemy.

We now have the ability
to devastate the enemy
from a distance easily.
Destroying lives haphazardly.

I wonder if we will mature
and teach our young men not to fight
to settle disputes and secure
a peaceful world as our birthright.

It seems unlikely that we will
as long as wars make profits for
those who sell the means to kill.
Who can reap rich rewards from war

19-Feb-07

ivor .e hogg

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/who-pays/