Those who stand and weep (From Gazette & Herald)

Those who stand and weep

Warring politicians make decisions,

Sending soldiers to sacrifice their lives.

Rich industrialists make munitions

As well as widows from the soldiers' wives.

Leaving them to stand and weep.

The accusing graves stand in endless rows

Of stark, cold, calligraphic statistics,

Mirrors of tributes to their fallen foes

Butchered by bombs, bullets and ballistics.

Leaving us to stand and weep.

Women despair at war's futility

Sicken at its savagery and pain,

Man's legacy of culpability

Bequeathed by Abel, as the mark of Cain.

Leaving Eve to stand and weep.

When the last conflict ends, will none be left,

To see the pointless Pyrrhic victory?

Will there be no widow, nor child, bereft?

Will it be mankind's valedictory?

Leaving God to stand and weep.

Updated: 16:48 Wednesday, March 26, 2003