Poppy

Since, today, we are urged to remember the dead
Perhaps we should do so with honest intent
Remembering that

There is no glory in war
The glorious are simply dead
They died for one reason alone: 
To feed the conspiracy of old men

Who would never hear the screams
(Drowned by the clamour of guns
The shriek of shells
And the spiteful chatter of lead)
Of the young they sent to die

Who didn’t wade through gore of mates
To fall in mud among rats and limbs
And spill the essence of their youth

No.  
They knew only the commerce of war
The triumph of stocks and shares

Let’s remember, too, that

There is no higher calling
All sides invoke the same myth
We bleed for vanity, hatred and greed
Delusion is our downfall
Then and now

And if we remember nothing else
It should be this: 

To ask: "Whose war?"