Women Weep Poem by ivor or ivor.e hogg

Behind a banner men unite
arrayed in armour shining bright.
Each warrior prepared to die,
ready to fight but knows not why.
It has been so since time began,
each yearns to prove he is a man.
The widows weep and wail and mourn.
Was it for this our sons were born?
To die upon some battlefield
be carried home upon his shield.
Because his chieftain would not yield.

That’s how it was in days of yore
when tribal chieftains went to war
Still human nature does not change
and foolish men see nothing strange.
Enlisting in some obscure cause
to fight and die in useless wars
Their women folk are left to cry
the price they pay is far too high.
The burning question must be why.

We do not learn from history.
There really is no mystery,
young men are still fooled easily
by politicians who they see
As learned men who are just and wise
and foolishly believe their lies
The women folk are not so blind
but head strong men pay little mind
to well found fears of womenkind

Though womenfolk have always known
that once men hear the trumpets blown
The men folk lose their common sense
and rush to fight in the defence
of what they’re told is liberty
by those placed in authority.
So children are left fatherless
and womenfolk in deep distress.
Men's foolishness is limitless.

19-Jun-07
Cyhydd naw ban

Welsh bardic form