Reflections of War

Mothers Do Mourn – by Deborah Suzanne McIntosh

I read the words of man’s history

written down long ago

of battles that raged across the world

as the sea’s tides did ebb and flow

I listened closely to thoughts of men

and watched the battles unfold

but little was learned in eons of time

loss of life grew to levels untold

Echoes in time, the battle cries heard

and lines were drawn in the sand

Warning bells sounded, ignored and unheard

and groups of men, together did band

They muted the clash of steel on steel

and fire dropped from the sky

the gauntlet was thrown; the bells did peal

for revenge, an eye for an eye.

Men saw the forging of iron wills

And secret plans were created

Men sent off to scour the hills

To search for the man most hated

Fueled by false promises, lying words

minds plotted, gave rise to invasion

A foreign country and its people now bear

the brunt of his gift of persuasion

In his address to the nation

He gave no apology

Where scant years before, to his people he swore

they have not the technology

Weapons of mass destruction were sought

He swore no clemency

not found, there was no evidence

Forsook diplomacy

He turned to the people with hardened heart

And he shook his fist in the air,

trust me he said, I know they are there

and our fight is fair

Then under the guise of darkness

Another plan was hatched

And then he proceeded to turn the press

As the world looked on and watched

Ships then set sail on stormy seas

And on far off shores came to rest  

Loaded with men, their bulging arms,

Flexing their necks, the best of the best

Unloaded their weapons, set for destruction

And once there, did wait for instruction

Once given the nod, all said and done

The invader promised reconstruction

Then sounds of thunder roared through the sky

As the bombs reached their destinations

Discarded their oaths pledged in membership

They belonged to the United Nations

Like the broken treaties and peace accords

with Indian nations long past

When double edged words and razor’s edged swords

ensured that the die was cast

In the time of the man called yellow hair

A nation downtrodden and crushed

Women and children, a burden to bear

Onto reservations were pushed

When blankets were given a people for warmth

held the secret ingredient of death

And as before mothers do mourn

as their children take their last breath

Echoes of times gone by now present

caused by another great clash

Men rise up, everyone braces,

set are they for backlash

A mighty man’s words fired a nation

and they fed on the flames of wrath

embers were stoked with the bones of the dead,

and fires blazed a new path

Painted with blood of the people

Their bodies grew cold on the ground

The spark that once lit their lives

Blunted, disposed not found

And of their land, were dispossessed

Deposed also, was their leadership

While gunfire blazed all around

A nation pledged its kinship

And many more lives were lost as they hustled

And people flocked in the rush

To follow the ranting, the eye of the eagle

in the land of the burning Bush

From time to time in the name of religion,

lands torn asunder by fire

Unfounded claims and empty finds

only caused to increase this man’s ire

The decision made he then wielded the lash

and cracked the whip with power

Took the bull by the horns, through stubbornness sworn

now the man of the hour.

Hungry and greedy for riches of lands

and barrels of oil did he plunder

And through this greed and quest for more

he did tear a land asunder

The wheels set in motion the glutton did forge

a plan to lay waste a nation

A well trodden path in the valley of greed

To the sound of hall’o’Burton’s oration

History needs to repeat it seems

despite the best efforts of Jung

While mothers in lands near and far

Do mourn the death of their young

Over yonder hills, the battle did rage

and warring men did swarm

Where a while ago they spent several weeks

battling the long desert storm

Go and forage and search the land

commanded the old burning Bush

And now once again do warring men rush

and look to that nation to crush

Everyone loses, men fall to the ground

and are cradled in the arms of the grave

While the man of power, from his place in white tower,

continues to rant and to rave

Though the loss of life blood does not deter

nor turn his mind from the fight

Nor does it quench his thirst for blood,

He feeds on power and might

To play the game and sacrifice men’s lives,

pawns on the checkered board, both sides

He gathers the world posse, and on their backs

bored knights in his service, he rides

The mighty man to the world he berates,

do it my way or else he dictates

No matter the lies or half truths he utters,

his cause is just or so he States

Like men of old through power and might

who stained the fields, and bloodied them red

Again, we find mothers who mourn,

their children lay dead, more tears are shed

Unease, unrest, hate and intolerance,

both sides seeded and sown take root

Lives torn apart, and innocence slain,

fragile peace dies under the boot

Marched on and found nothing then claimed to fight

for the people we must ensure their rights

And demolished homes and neighborhoods

and then he continued, ignored their plights

He swore an oath and riddled the land

With a hail of bullets, while bombs did rain

Screams howled in the wind and curdled the blood,

the death toll mounted again

The fruit of the land  once prized and luscious,

now shriveled and abhorrent

Now despised, rights are discarded

Just so that his spleen might vent

He bared his teeth, honed razor sharp

on splintered and naked bones

of the innocent caught in the crossfire

And overhead on flew the drones

Trapped by the silken strands of thoughts

woven into the spider’s web

Through hidden intentions the currents torment,

fear rises, does not ebb.

This man’s edicts and actions decreed

A ripple effect gathered strength and speed

The web of deceit spins out of control

A new trap created by passion and greed

A witch hunt continues, the cauldron bubbles

It boils, and when stirred, emotional troubles

Burning the hearts of mothers who mourn

Their children, life from whom was torn

Lessons once learned, now lost in the haze

While fires rage through the Bush

Into the mind of man, he dictates

his rule, follow me or I’ll push

In a battle worn world, the gap widens distance

The causeways flood with tears

Brother to brother much life is lost

Causes bled throughout the years

History repeats, how many times have we seen

that bloodshed causes division

How many must die, how long shall it be,

when shall we cease this derision

Must we pave the road with corruption and hate

drive a wedge through the core of the earth

and breach the heart of the nation

that erupts from much slandered worth

Gather the skeletal remains of that land

felled by guns and their bullets

Earth shaking battle tanks roll like thunder,

While warships sail into the inlets

Shattered lives, shell-shocked people

Gathered together, a herd

And once again, through battle cries

the beat of the drum is heard

The warning bells sounded, but were ignored,

Only to fall on deaf ears

And to this day they still remain

Unheard, a thousand years

How many times must this world be divided,

when will our hearts conquer strife

When will this world heed the cries of its mothers

Who brought to the world all life

Despair their lost efforts in birthing the world

at the mercy of hovering vultures

In lands close and far, Mothers still mourn

the death of their children, their cultures

© Deborah McIntosh