Holy Wars genre: Hip-Gnosis & Rhyme-N-Reason & Six Degrees of Speculation

The category “Rhyme-N-Reason" is intended to be a place to share poetry that stimulates thoughtful reflection. For me, writing poetry is cathartic. It’s a way to encapsulate a group of feelings or thoughts that might be on my mind such that when I’m done writing, I experience a level of resolve that is both comforting and motivational. It has the same effect for me as listening to a song with which one has a significant connection. It takes you somewhere you’ve been or to something you’ve felt or experienced and allows you to further interpret the intended meaning or the lesson learned. Hopefully this can be a place for readers to pause and reflect on their own thoughts and feelings. Your comments are welcomed as well as any poetry you might want to share.

I wrote the following poem called Holy Wars while thinking about conflict and what makes it so prevalent. It speaks to the "tit for tat" mentality that I've recently been writing about and how difficult it becomes to step back from this escalating rhetoric. The poem also attempts to expose some of the hypocrisy that exists in the words and the choices of those in positions of leadership.

Holy Wars

Decisions made by dignitaries, neither will retreat
Time to launch the missiles, the price of pride is steep

Issues framed in declarations, soldiers winning decorations
The uniforms delineate, flying flags to note each nation

The minions meet the mortar, the victory’s essential
Sent to do the bidding, so death’s inconsequential

Men meet to fight the battle, the enemy they blame
The blood pours on the soil, the colors all the same

A knock upon the door, they say your son has died
The message is the same…for mothers on each side

We choose to hate the foe, the people are the pawns
The culprits in the castle, the kingdom must be strong

The order is reversed, the laws of god invoked
Lives are bought and sold, the flames of hatred stoked

Someone pulls the strings, the reasoning is spun
The guilty are absolved, the damage has been done

The origins forgotten, when abundance was provided
Then greed became the norm, so humanity subsided

They say the goal is heaven, and yet its things they seek
The deeds defy the words; the strong must be the weak

No man exceeds another, yet often do they try
The truth cannot be hidden; it’s in each person’s eyes

Each one of us diminished, when one destroys another
Men preceded nations; we’re in this world together

Daniel DiRito | May 4, 2006 | 7:01 AM
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