Odd –
How somehow
You never really minded
Accepting the accolades
Of those who trusted you —
Your young soldiers
Who gave their lives
To fight in your unending battles —
And the women and girls who placed
Their hope and trust in you —
And the brave and loyal
Friends who gave
So many years and
Sacrifices on your behalf —
Odd —
How you could never really recall
Any of their names.
But you gave them a form
To fill out,
With reassurances
And oh, so many empty words,
How very, very kind of you.
How thoughtful,
As you chose
With every conscious intention
Not to know,
Not to remember,
Not to help,
Not to be in any hurry at all,
Musn’t rush,
As their lives
Slipped away
Down the vacant,
Gaping hole in your memory –
Down to the flames
Of their destruction
By your abandonment
And your treachery.
Not your fault, of course.
Who could have known?
***
© Sharon St Joan, August 15, 2021
Yea, Laura, I’d forgotten all about that song. Thanks for the reminder! It is very relevant!
It certainly can’t be said this behavior is too far in our past for us to have forgotten. One of Bob Dylan’s early songs was “Masters of War,” which says the same thing, tho a lot more harshly.