Why War is Never a Good Idea
eddies grrl
Posts: 509
(A Picture Poem for Children Blinded by War)
by Alice Walker
Though war speaks every language
It never knows what to say to frogs
Picture frogs beside a pond
Holding their annual pre-rainy season convention
They do not see WAR
Huge tires of a camouflaged vehicle
About to squash them flat.
Though war has a mind of it own
War never knows who it is going to hit
Picture a donkey peacefully sniffing a pile of straw
A small boy holds the end of its frayed rope bridle
They do not see it
They are both thinking of dinner
The boy is hoping for polenta and eggs
Maybe a carrot or apple for dessert
Just above them something dark &
Big as a car is dropping.
Though war has eyes of its own
& can see oil and gas & mahogany trees
& every shining thing under the earth.
When it comes to nursing mothers it is blind;
Milk, especially human, it cannot see.
Picture a woman beside a window.
She is blissfully singing a lullaby.
A baby twirls a lock of her dark hair and suckles for all it is worth.
They do not smell War
Dressed in green & brown
Imitating their fields
Marching slowly toward them up the steep hill.
Though war is old
It has not become wise.
It will not hesitate to destroy things that do not belong to it
Things very much older than itself.
Picture a forest
With its rivers & rocks, its pumas & its parakeets
Its turtles, leopards and snakes
High above them war has turned itself into a white cloud
Trailing an airplane that dusts everything below
With a powder that kills.
War has bad manners.
War eats everything in its path
& what it doesn't eat it dribbles on:
Here war is munching on a village
Its missles taking chunks
Big bites of it.
War's leftover gunk seeps like saliva into the ground.
It is finding its way into the village well.
War tastes terrible and smells bad.
It never considers body odor or weird side effects.
When added to water it makes you sick sip by sip
You could die while choking & holding your nose.
Now, suppose You become War.
It happens to some of the nicest people on earth:
& one day You have to drink the water in this place.
by Alice Walker
Though war speaks every language
It never knows what to say to frogs
Picture frogs beside a pond
Holding their annual pre-rainy season convention
They do not see WAR
Huge tires of a camouflaged vehicle
About to squash them flat.
Though war has a mind of it own
War never knows who it is going to hit
Picture a donkey peacefully sniffing a pile of straw
A small boy holds the end of its frayed rope bridle
They do not see it
They are both thinking of dinner
The boy is hoping for polenta and eggs
Maybe a carrot or apple for dessert
Just above them something dark &
Big as a car is dropping.
Though war has eyes of its own
& can see oil and gas & mahogany trees
& every shining thing under the earth.
When it comes to nursing mothers it is blind;
Milk, especially human, it cannot see.
Picture a woman beside a window.
She is blissfully singing a lullaby.
A baby twirls a lock of her dark hair and suckles for all it is worth.
They do not smell War
Dressed in green & brown
Imitating their fields
Marching slowly toward them up the steep hill.
Though war is old
It has not become wise.
It will not hesitate to destroy things that do not belong to it
Things very much older than itself.
Picture a forest
With its rivers & rocks, its pumas & its parakeets
Its turtles, leopards and snakes
High above them war has turned itself into a white cloud
Trailing an airplane that dusts everything below
With a powder that kills.
War has bad manners.
War eats everything in its path
& what it doesn't eat it dribbles on:
Here war is munching on a village
Its missles taking chunks
Big bites of it.
War's leftover gunk seeps like saliva into the ground.
It is finding its way into the village well.
War tastes terrible and smells bad.
It never considers body odor or weird side effects.
When added to water it makes you sick sip by sip
You could die while choking & holding your nose.
Now, suppose You become War.
It happens to some of the nicest people on earth:
& one day You have to drink the water in this place.
Life is the riddle
Of which we're caught in the middle.
A couple of lucky ones
Tangled up in too much love
~cowboy junkies
Of which we're caught in the middle.
A couple of lucky ones
Tangled up in too much love
~cowboy junkies
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