The Warrior Ethos
The commandant stands,
All misty-eyed, in camouflage,
At the podium in front of his troops.
Intones about honor,
And duty, and "family ,
Propagandizing his legion of dupes.
And being a man
Of simple convictions,
He conjures some words from his Bible
To lead them all down
A path to destruction
For which he's averse to be liable.
Isn't it strange
How for every percent
The unemployment increases,
Enlistment goes up
A half a percent?
One wonders where it all ceases.
We're told to believe
It's some kind of calling.
It all ends up economic.
With all of the pomp
And rhetorical nonsense,
The war drums persist, metronomic.
What would be wrong
With an ethos of peace
Without all the violence preceding?
Before there can be
Compassion and loving,
There has to be crying and bleeding.
The lie is, by now,
Three thousand years old.
How long will deception persist?
If there is a God,
He must be impatient.
We have to do better than this...