The white flag

How many people will die before war is stopped. Each days brother killing brother. Rich countries deciding who is right or wrong?

                                     The white flag


How many roads must a man walk down to understand.
Blood create more blood. Death demand more death.
Soldiers will fight and kill till there is no-one left.
Only memories left will be of a greedy people who killed and killed without concern

I sat near a river. I asked the Gods of the morning. Why do I live?
I remember my sweet wife and kids who need me. Once I held a 30-30.
Waiting for death. I decided more reasons to live than die.

I sat by graves of 20,000 men who die for freedom. The last great war.
WW2 was to open door to the utopia of peace. I wonder did we honor these brave men
by leading the world to murder and chaos.

If you sell or give weapons to be used for murder. You are part of the murder.
If you screams separation and hate. You are the murderer of peace and calm.
USA spend more than a trillion dollars on war. There is no active war.
Twenty five cent of every dollar is for war from the taxes we paid.

I tell the people from the sixties. Rise up, rise up.
Your words are needed today. How many more will die for the cause of peace?

I don't believe war and peace can be spoken in the same sentence.
Who will weep for the homeless? Who will weep for the children in the old cities
that were destroyed by war? Who is weeping for the mother holding child with
no place to go? Who will feed the misplaced and the homeless.

I want to raise a white flag. I do not want my children, my grandchildren to follow
their father to war like I did.

Rise up the new generation. Better to fight and stand for peace than die somewhere
for people who do not want our help.

I saw and touched death often in Bosnia, Africa and the Middle East. I did learn. No winner
in war. Just useless murder of the poor people in the way of the war machine.

It is time for logic. USA need to fix the boarders. Keep the bad folks out. Bring all the Soldiers
home and fix our country. USA is in trouble. Old wise saying. "Fix your house before trying to
fix someone else."

This is one planet and one people. If we don't try to get along. What will we leave for the future generations?
I hope we don't leave only a people who accepted hate and violence as a norm.

                                      Coyote/John Castellenas

Author's Note

Just thoughts. Can't turn on the TV. Too much blood.

Reviews

[Emily]

Besides some grammatical errors, this poem is a thoughtful and critical eye to the world we live in. I agree, the US does need to clean up its own act before trying to clean up someone else's I think your perspective gives a much-needed dose of reality to the people who are still in the dark.

[Coyote Poetry]

Thank you Emily. Old Grandpa told me often. "Before you fix another life. Ensure your life is in line first."

[Glen Yumang Manese]

Seems to ramble in the lines...
yet I get your over-all view...
without war and just peace...
without evil and just good...
the parable is not a difficult spectrum...
yet very far and in between to reach...
there is a line that must be crossed...
and at times the line is bloodshed...
and at times for greed...
the nature of it all is that we as society...
will never agree to just one side...
we are fallible...and the consequences is our own...

[Coyote Poetry]

It was a ramble. I saw pictures of places where drones are killing people 5000 away from the sender. If we don't stop and re-set how we are treating the cause with murder to some sort of conversation. There is no end. Machines cannot tell woman/children from soldiers. The consequences of war isn't understood till you are standing in blood. I saw useless murder in many places. I said often. War is fair. Even at a distance war will touch us in some way. Thank you for reading and the comment.

[Glen Yumang Manese]

You're welcome...

[DIVYA]

It could be worse than that. For with weapons of mass destruction that we have now, there could be no people left at all. Adam's offspring could author it's own annihilation, for naught. Maybe it's mankind, maybe it's nature, because millenniums have passed warring yet the futility of war and bloodshed has yet not been understood. Maybe it's a struggle for power or wealth for the chosen few, but as you rightly said, it is the common man on the road who suffers.

Thank you for your thoughts so wonderfully expressed here.

[Coyote Poetry]

Thank you Divya. We need wise leaders. Those who know compassion and understanding.

[DIVYA]

I agree and it has to be a collective decision of all humanity. You are very welcome sir. It was a great read to start a contemplative evening with.