Faces Of War Poem by Cheryl L. DaytecYañgot

Lust for carnage
gratified by the blood
of the blameless
and the dirge of
mothers in frantic
search for bodies
of children who
have not come
home from school.

Thirst for gold
quenched by a swill of
barrels of grease
until the supply for
other drinkers
runs dry and out
sated by revolting paucity
in the third world
and inexcusable
affluence in the first.

Greed for power
satisfied by a choking grip on the
destiny of other nations,
slaked by the helplessness and
dependence of children
of lesser gods on the
white men with the guns

It is madness
It is the absence of God
It is the presence of nothingness
It is the abundance of injustice
It is curse.

21 September 2002