An Example of Stoicism Among the Enemies of our War in the Arab World

Our men went off in quick grey planes
To fight a foolish war
Our men went off to inflict pain
On enemies and more

They battled with strange weaponry
And buried children live
And the enemy spoke stoically
Of blue skies on their side

“For bombs may fall and bullets fly
But if it is God’s will
That for my sins I will soon die
Then take me up the hill”

So by the tree my father sat
And looked across the plain
At wrecked houses and forgot that
He heard the screams of pain

Of citizens innocent as
Much as anyone who
Living within a living hell
Could be expected to

Our men came back battle-scarred from
Trying to protect home
And families watching TVs
Silently alone, spoke

Little in the word of thanks for
The men rushed to battle
Who viewed through a cracked door
Where bones break and rattle

Then came home to not very much
Came home to how are you
Came home to pints on cloudy nights
With nothing much to do

But remember the children’s faces
Seen slumped against the dust
And weep in unlikely places
For weep they really must

Because enemies have no faces
Enemies have no homes
And such far flung places
Can still be called by phone

And the world is surely smaller
Than anyone will know
When you walk among fallen
Tread soft upon the snow

Of days that time has overthrown
That melted and then froze
Night filled with cries of those unknown
Dawn creeping on tiptoes.