On War

People kill, and kill, and kill some more,
for reasons that we must explore.
Can anyone list the excuses used
to justify increasing death's score?

For the dead, all freedoms are lost
when war victims pay the total cost.
"We did it for freedom," the
soldiers on both sides say;
(at least those who live to
greet a more peaceful day).
But what they really did, however
was simply transfer oppression
from one victim to another,
for speech, religion, and press,
are freedoms to which the
dead have no access.

When the guns are silent, the dead buried,
and the rubble sifted;
when the missiles are anchored, the bombers
parked; when the threat of sudden violent
death is temporarily lifted;
to the mourning survivors left
it becomes quite clear, that in war,
the winner's trophy goes to death.


Previously published in 2003 on the web site
http://www.poetsagainstthewar.org/