THE CURSE OF WAR
War robs men of their youth.
It betrays their youthful aspirations,
and thrusts them into an abyss of unimaginable hell.
Yet, those who have looked death in the face,
now experience the glory of being alive.
In their eyes,
everyday is a gift
to be explored and enjoyed.
Linda Smith
LAST NIGHT I HAD THE STRANGEST DREAM
Last night I had the strangest dream
I'd ever dreamed before
I dreamed the world had all agreed
To put an end to war
I dreamed I saw a mighty room
Filled with women and men
And the paper they were signing said
They'd never fight again
And when the paper was all signed
And a million copies made
They all joined hands and bowed their heads
And grateful pray'rs were prayed
And the people in the streets below
Were dancing 'round and 'round
While swords and guns and uniforms
Were scattered on the ground
Last night I had the strangest dream
I'd never dreamed before
I dreamed the world had all agreed
To put an end to war.
Lyrics - Ed McCurdy
Military men are dumb, stupid animals to be used as pawns for foreign policy.
Henry Kissinger
SLEEP SAFELY
I watched you sleeping last night,
So peaceful and deep,
And my heart was filled to bursting,
With love and with pride
For my two year old girl child.
I wanted never to let you go.
Angrily I wiped away a tear,
For tomorrow I must return to the war
And I might never see you again.
Graham Vivian Lancaster
CAMOURFLAGE
I recognized the camouflage
And a thousand buried memories
flashed through my mind.
Hesitantly I took the book down from the shelf,
looking closer at the jacket –
photographs so well remembered.
Hesitant to look further,
old wounds opening,
but it was us, and a part of me.
Pictures of teenagers.
Shocked at our youth,
Naïve innocence,
Glorying in defence
of men’s wars,
Too old to repair their own carnage,
who used fresh faced children.
Emotions surfacing with every page,
opening – remembering
too many times,
so many places,
broken bodies,
tortured minds,
fighters forever changed.
Brittle twigs carrying one ton loads.
But for one thing I am grateful,
because of us,
Our ‘children’ stayed home.
Graham Vivian Lancaster
'All the war-propaganda, all the screaming and lies and hatred, comes invariably from people who are not fighting.'
George Orwell
In Zulu tradition the kudu is the symbol of the senseless pride that causes our demise. The kudu is used to teach about the futility of conflict. When two male kudus fight during the mating season their horns sometimes become inter-locked and they are unable to free themselves. Thus they end their days inextricably bound to their enemy; their horned skulls being testimony to their stupidity.
'If we could read the secret history of our enemies, we would find in each man's life a sorrow and a suffering enough to disarm all hostility.'
Henry Longfellow
'Do you know what astonished me most in the world? The inability of force to create anything. In the long run, the sword is always beaten by the spirit. Napoleon Bonaparte (stated near the end of his life)
'Demons;
You come to me and why
Do you rouse me so
Alone
In this lonely night
Of vivid
Thirty five year war memories
Never far?
Do you plague
My men so too;
Those even in death?'
Graham Vivian Lancaster
'All the war-propaganda, all the screaming and lies and hate, comes invariably from people who are not fighting.'
George Orwell
‘If war is ever lawful, then peace is sometimes sinful.’
C S Lewis
'If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.'
Mother Teresa
'If there is light in the soul, there will be beauty in the person.
If there is beauty in the person, there will be harmony in the house.
If there is harmony in the house, there will be order in the nation.
If there is order in the nation, there will be peace in the world.'
Chinese Proverb
THE UNIVERSAL SOLDIER