The Soldiers' Hymn

When this stinking war is over
No more soldiering for us;
You can take your fucking rifle
- Shove it up your fucking arse.
No more killing little kiddies
Dropping bombs on family homes
No more trembling, lying, dying,
At the bid of moral gnomes.

When this stinking war is over
And we're all back in civvy street,
If we get home with both our legs on
Let's rise proudly to our feet
And show off our nice new medals
To admiring folks from far and near.
Who cares how much we suffered?
Jesus knows they cost us dear.

About This Poem

Last Few Words: This little poem is dedicated to "the fallen" of all nations whose lives have been thrown away for nothing whatsoever, except making a fat profit for the armaments manufacturers and giving the politicians an erection. Try singing it to the tune of the corny evangelical hymn "What a friend we have in Jesus". In fact, it was common practice for WW1 soldiers to parody hymn tunes and this itself is thus a parody of a parody. It was written to point out the fact that war hasn't changed, in fact it's got better (from the Grim Reaper's point of view). Anyway, blood and faeces are both good for the crops.

Review Request Direction: How does this theme appeal to you?

Review Request Intensity: I appreciate moderate constructive criticism

Editing Stage: Editing - rough 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

Geezer

5 years 8 months ago

How fitting...

Your poem decrying war, sitting above an advertisement for a gun! LoL. You seem to forget, that man himself, as a species, is
the purveyor of war! Governments just do a better job! Go back as far as you like; to the so-called "Caveman." As soon as we
started standing up on two feet and walking, [leaving our hands free to hold weapons] we started killing each other. If we truly wanted to stop war, we would elect leaders that wouldn't get in fights with other countries, Hell, we could just all say: "Hell no, we won't go!" How can you have a war if nobody comes? It is "Man's" greedy nature and his wanting to have it all, that makes wars! Not governments! I think that the command to go forth, be fruitful and multiply, is the cause of the whole thing! If we didn't need extra room and sustenance for "OUR" progeny, We wouldn't [need?] to go take someone else's land. So, I guess you can blame it on our insatiable need to fuck! ~ Geezer.
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Edna Sweetlove

5 years 8 months ago

In a sense...

...you are right. Humans are animals and many of us ENJOY killing each other. That's why the only good soldier is a dead soldier.

Instead, people venerate the miltary dead - think of all the well-tended graveyards for British and Commonwealth soldiers in Northern France and Belgium. The money spent on tending these memorials to a load of deluded fools who squandered their lives for fuck all would be better spent on education and public health. I spit on the military of all nations.
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