WAR AND REMEMBRANCE

Over the borders, a sin without pardon,
   Breaking our treaties and sinking below,
Out through the breach in the wall of the UN,
   Down, like aggressors before us, we go.

Here is our war with the humming of thunder,
   Here is the Gulf with the wonder of foam,
Here are the fields with the wells running over -
   Marvellous captures, though all far from home!

Sounds of the cities grow stiller and stiller,
   Stiller the cries of the people we kill;
Dusty and dim are the eyes of the voter,
   Deaf are his ears with the shock of our skill.

Years may go by, and the war's dark endeavour
   War as it wars for us, leaders, today,
War and keep roaring and burning forever
   Long after all of our 'boys' come away.

Home from our wars round Arabia's ocean,
   Statesmen turned looters we all shall come home;
Still we shall find lawless war mills in motion,
   Turning and churning the world's blood to foam.

Me with the Aid that you gave lest we quarrelled,
   You with my trust in Alliances past,
Disgraced and stained and as prisoners apparelled,
   We'll meet at the Hague -
                               and we'll grieve for our past.

                    (Apologies to Robert Louis Stevenson)