But Still, They Fight

But Still, They Fight


The Battle was long and hard,
Slow, not the Spanish American,
Not this. Raining blood
From skies of knives,
Guns that explode to create
Death where none
Should have been.
Black clouds, warning:
None should rise today.
If they do, none
Shall rise again.

Soldiers awake at a dark dawn,
Ignore caution, accept
A peaceful rain's dark lie.
A day of their's, not unlike
Any other, each with blood
On their hands, each day
Passing - weeks convert those
Hands to bayonets, their fingers
Little shafts that explode for
Blood but do not hurt.
Their hair, once golden, now gray,
Accents their faces,
Once smooth, now rough,
Tired, worn and old. He's 34.
His face lies, it says 61. His
Hands shake. From fear
Or sickness, who can tell?
Both are probable. He knows
Not what day he'll die, soon
Or later, now or then...
But he is afraid of soon, now,
And also then. Prolonging war
Torture: Must I live,
Suffering this war torture?

He killed a boy yesterday,
He remembers him, new to war,
Fresh as a baby, really. Not
Likely to have been long fighting.
But now dead, need not worry
About a future of killing. Oh, but he
Was young, innocent though foreign,
And deserved not death but life
Overflowing, strong and vital,
Taken by the gray-headed man,
Who has a son
His age at home. A wife,
She cooks for him. He met her
And knew she was for life.
She waits for him, her hair
Has become gray also, she worries...

But still, they fight
Beneath a gentle rain,
Not much blood spilt, not yet.
The rain gets harder, angrier.
It beats the soldiers
For giving in. Blood now runs
In the rivers, puddles of
Rain and blood, guns overworn,
Lack of bullets, of
Anything but fists. They grow
Now weak, fists fail, fall.
Transformed into blood in the dirt.
Fists fallen under a stressful sky
Back to where they birthed.

__________



We spend so little a time anymore contradicting this culture of violence we have created. I thought humans adapted; I thought humans were becoming more civilized? As we grow toward better standards of living and higher technology, shouldn't we be growing also toward less violence? It seems to me to be the natural necessary progression of humankind (i.e. we should be proud of our ability to grow and change and become more peaceful, symbiotic - mutualistic creatures). The big ethical argument then will become, "Is it right to fight violence with violence?" And I am still struggling with this one.