Realpolitik

narrative verse

 

Realpolitik

 

A trumpet blared defiantly.

Into a hell of shot and shell,

 a gallant charge of cavalry

But few survived their tale to tell.

 

There is no place in modern war

 for such outmoded strategy.

More suited to the days of yore.

Today there is no chivalry.

 

You must defeat the enemy.

Attempt to take him by surprise

 and gain superiority

by any method you can devise.

 

Improving your technology.

You have to strive to keep abreast,

 increasing your ability

To kill more quickly than the rest.

 

The rules of war are broken by

most nations when its suits their book.
They are prepared to cheat and lie.

They mean to win by hook or crook.

 

The winners write the history.

Which proves that they were innocent.

They could have been quite possibly

Devoid of any ill intent.

 

I find it difficult to believe.

Perhaps I am too sceptical

 of the facts I can retrieve.

from stories that are typical.

 

Attempts to prove the enemy

were without doubt the ones to blame.

Proclaim themselves to be guilt free.

All part and parcel of the game.

 

The winners speak eloquently

The losers are denied a chance

to state their case with clarity.

In the prevailing circumstance.

 

The tales you read of chivalry.
may serve quite well to entertain.
 The tales of friendly rivalry

 Cannot be true : I must maintain.

 

I try to keep an open mind.

When I am reading history.

But the anomalies I find.

Merely serve to convince me.

The first casualty in any war.

 Is the plain truth, it has to be.

As the opponents jockey for

 their chance to rewrite history.

 

Lies damn lies and statistics prove

Exactly what the victors choose.

It seem historians approve

Perhaps they have too much to lose.

 

25/08/2009

http:// blog.myspace.com/poeticpiers