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Poetry posted in this category are works of fiction. Names, places, characters, events, and incidents are created by the authors' imaginations or are used fictitiously. Any resemblances to actual persons (living or dead), organizations, companies, events, or locales are entirely coincidental.
Note: While authors are asked to place warnings on their stories for some moderated content, everyone has different thresholds, and it is your responsibility as a reader to avoid stories or stop reading if something bothers you. 

By Chance or Appointment - 21. Confounding

A sonnet for Veteran's and Armistice Day. Any errors are mine alone.

It seems as if a century of blood

spilled by a million million blameless sons,

and then a billion more laid in the mud,

have made no mark upon those mighty ones

who think of armies as their whimsied toys

with which to exercise dominion’s sport,

accounting nothing for the lives of boys

so innocent and soon to be cut short.

How stupid so-called great men seem to be,

who cannot time’s most simple lessons learn,

yet those of us born to humility

know well they’ve fanned the flames in which we burn.

Together, let us kinship contemplate,

confounding those who taught us how to hate.


Lest we forget the millions we have lost, and the millions more living under the shadows of the powerful. Remember them and ourselves, and work for peace.
Copyright © 2022 Parker Owens; All Rights Reserved.
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Poetry posted in this category are works of fiction. Names, places, characters, events, and incidents are created by the authors' imaginations or are used fictitiously. Any resemblances to actual persons (living or dead), organizations, companies, events, or locales are entirely coincidental.
Note: While authors are asked to place warnings on their stories for some moderated content, everyone has different thresholds, and it is your responsibility as a reader to avoid stories or stop reading if something bothers you. 
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Parker Owens
2 hours ago, pvtguy said:

Will this ever stop?  Not when people think of others as non-humans or lesser than....the us vs. them where we are always right and they are always wrong.  Love this poem and the hope it inspires.

When our leaders are allowed to dehumanize whole nations full of people, it puts us all in danger. At least, so it seems to me. Thanks a million for reading. 

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Parker Owens
5 hours ago, weinerdog said:

Even a war for a just reason is hard to stomach. I think if intelligent beings came to our planet and observed all these wars they left thinking we are way too primitive. A Good tribute

Thank you for your thoughts and for reading this poem. The thousands upon thousands of wasted and maimed lives cry out for an accounting from those who see armed force as a tool to get whatever it is they want. It’s up to us to call for that account. 

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