Two Anti-War Poems : 'Charge!' and 'Overcoming The Beast'

Charge!

Suddenly the playing stops
as, on the playground,
big bombs drop.

And girls with their skipping ropes
can jump no more
and boys and their footballs lie still;
red blood seeps over hopscotch grids.
Oh, what a lot those bombs can kill!

And mothers do not see their kids come home from school;
mothers never tuck them into bed again
but have to see them buried instead.

Not our mothers,
not our playgrounds,
not our children.
Just our bombs.

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Overcoming The Beast (For a past IP)

What is it that seduces men to war?
Why choose the hail and thunder to adore?
Why not the snow white dove or crimson rose?
Why can’t man be content with such as those?

Snow white dove? Crimson Rose?
Be honest. Do men value those?
To be important; famous; rich;
it’s that men crave; that makes men itch.

Why let loose gales of sadness on the world
when there is so much gladness to be found?
Why are the cheeks of pretty children pearled
with tears, when bright eyes of heaven abound?

Beauty? What is that worth?
Men barter the beautiful Earth;
martyr her to their darkening fire.
To be highest; that’s their desire.

Then, sadly, there’s no hope for end to war;
that savage beast will feed and never fall
‘til men love what they have and crave no more;
want joy, not just for themselves, but for all.