After the War

After the war is over
With more than a thousand dead,
Gaza's orphans are weeping
And all the gutters run red.

After the war is over
And Israel's guns are stilled,
Jerusalem's celebrating
For all the children they've killed.

But rising up from the ashes,
A dark righteous anger is born.
A new generation will fight on.
After the war.

About This Poem

Last Few Words: Ths is based on the beautiful and sad 1891 song "After The Ball" (written by Charles K. Harris) which was used in the musical "Showboat". My new version foretells how the devastation wrought on Gaza 11 years ago will never be forgotten or forgiven by the people of Palestine. And it is particularly poignant now that Trump and Netanyahu are plotting to "legalise" Israeli landtheft and settlement in the Occupied Territories. It is ironic that Israel, born out of the persecution of WW2, should now persecute the Palestinians..

Style/Type: Structured: Western

Review Request Intensity: I appreciate moderate constructive criticism

Editing Stage: Editing - polished draft

About the Author

Region, Country: London, Culture Capital of the World

Favorite Poets: Siegfried Sassoon, Wilfred Owen, Rupert Brooke, Chaucer, Shakespeare to name but a few. And VERY IMPORTANTLY: Erich Fried, a leftwing Austrian of Jewish ancestry who fled the Nazis and became a British citizen in 1949., And, other writers (non-poets mainly): Raymond Chandler, Irvine Welsh, Anthony Burgess, Graham Greene, Charles Bukowski, John le Carré, Anthony Horowitz, Mick Herron, Margaret Attwood, Edna O'Brian, Maeve Binchy., Writers who I find vastly over-rated: TS Eliot, Virgina Woolf, Sylvia Plath, Phil Larkin, E.A. Poe, A. Ginsburg, Longfellow, Gerald Manley Hopkins (actually I LOATHE Hopkins more than damson-dappled words can say).

Comments

Gracy

5 years 5 months ago

I agree with you, Edna. After

I agree with you, Edna. After the millions killed by Hitler you'd think Israel would be peaceful and thankfull that they got their piece of land. I'm on the Palestinian's side, of course. Good poem, justice will prevail.

Edna Sweetlove

5 years 5 months ago

Thank you...

...for your comment.

Geezer

5 years 5 months ago

There is no after...

We will never give up war, much as we would like to think that we [the human race] have grown past it; it will never happen. We will always find someone to fight. If not our own kind, then some other kind. I hope that we don't spread out among the stars; because we will take our wars out there too. Yes, Israel should have learned the lesson, but it hasn't and neither have we. So sad. Nice piece, very well done. ~ Geezer.
.

Edna Sweetlove

5 years 5 months ago

Thank you...

...for your kind words.