BEASTLY TALES

WAR IS HELL

Brave men went “over the top,” and fought.
General Officers, with them, were few, nay, nought!
After the American Civil War,
Generals, actually fighting, one never saw.
Staying well back, to direct affairs,
Telephones and Messengers could cope with the scares!
The terrors of trench fighting, only too real,
To experience such terror, you’d need to feel,
Anything like those troops in the trench,
Denied civilized living, including a wench!

After artillery barrages did stop,
Some fool blows a whistle, “Over the top!”
“Cannon fodder” is what they were called.
But machine guns were what really galled!
“Once more, into the breach, dear friend!”
Such a war never seems to end!
Until one is, at last, mortally hit.
Then it’s all really gone, caboodle and kit!
Fast forward now to peace time,
War is portrayed as noble, sublime,
A glamorous adventure, a lofty pursuit,
When everyone knows each enemy’s a brute!
Parades are held, ceremony and pomp.
Stir up the blood, get ready to romp.
For it may not be too long until another dumb cluck,
Pushes the world to the brink, becomes unstuck,
And then, as one knows so well,
They can re-learn that war is hell!
The next big one may not last so long,
Nuclear explosions can quell any throng!

“Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears!”
“To make up a military, you need volunteers.”
Volunteers, who have been duped that war is an honour!
A bullet between the eyes, then you’re a goner!