I wasn't sure where this belonged. I wrote this 11 years ago and have recited it periodically, as I did today.
from 11 Nov 2005
Disaster
The clerisy debated peace
While men of common class relied
On swords and pikes in angry hands
And reason sat alone. Denied.
The keck and stench of the lowborne drudge
Was far away and faint
And the lords all sputtered rhetoric
Protected from complaint
Until a bloodied warrior warned
That all of their palavers
Would inaugurate a pestilence
Brought home by the cadavers
And yet, the bloated fundament
Was unmoved by the man
And their dialectic discourse
Turned to battle plans
The soldier turned to exit
And uttered a short verse
That went unheard by all within
His words, a mottled curse
"Today begins the ending
The ending begins with fears
And forms a vile black river
Of pain and death and tears"
And all got worse as time progressed
At home and where they fought
No way to win the battles
No endorsement or support
And in the years that followed
The rage at home was swelled
By simple wooden boxes
In which the dead were held
Until a cry from common folk
Welled up and struck the lords
The minions killed their masters
With rakes and stones and boards
And in their place, a council
Of tired and sombre order
Sent word out to the general
Return home to our border!
Lay down your arms and fight no more
The price is much too high
The war cannot improve our lot
If everyone will die!
A lesson learned, but much too late
It is our fate to master
That all the good upon this earth
Comes first from man's disaster
- 2005
One of these days, we’ll get it right.
from 11 Nov 2005
Disaster
The clerisy debated peace
While men of common class relied
On swords and pikes in angry hands
And reason sat alone. Denied.
The keck and stench of the lowborne drudge
Was far away and faint
And the lords all sputtered rhetoric
Protected from complaint
Until a bloodied warrior warned
That all of their palavers
Would inaugurate a pestilence
Brought home by the cadavers
And yet, the bloated fundament
Was unmoved by the man
And their dialectic discourse
Turned to battle plans
The soldier turned to exit
And uttered a short verse
That went unheard by all within
His words, a mottled curse
"Today begins the ending
The ending begins with fears
And forms a vile black river
Of pain and death and tears"
And all got worse as time progressed
At home and where they fought
No way to win the battles
No endorsement or support
And in the years that followed
The rage at home was swelled
By simple wooden boxes
In which the dead were held
Until a cry from common folk
Welled up and struck the lords
The minions killed their masters
With rakes and stones and boards
And in their place, a council
Of tired and sombre order
Sent word out to the general
Return home to our border!
Lay down your arms and fight no more
The price is much too high
The war cannot improve our lot
If everyone will die!
A lesson learned, but much too late
It is our fate to master
That all the good upon this earth
Comes first from man's disaster
- 2005
One of these days, we’ll get it right.