Gaza- Israel - Will Wars Of Vengeance Ever Stop? Poem by Bernedita Rosinha Pinto

History speaks of everything:
wars and its damages,
anger and its justifications;
history also talks of every leader
good or bad,
of George Washington or of Nixon
of Nehru or of Gandhi;
of Hitler or of Napoleon
of Saddam Hussein or of Gaddafi;
history books are full of stories
of wars, winners and losers
but no one explains or reveals the extent
of destruction to life and properties;
very seldom the pages of history talk
of traumatic experiences of families
who have lost their loved ones
or of those who have got injured or maimed
and of those who have fled the country
and became refugees,
or of those orphaned children
who have lost their parents
and those women who have lost
their soldier husbands
and are forced to be widows;
no one cares to know how those soldiers
laid down their lives for their country
and their sacrifices are long forgotten
except on the tombstone their names
get inscribed among others.

And though the recklessness of war
creates so much damage,
no one emphasizes on the futility of war
no one takes an impromptu decision
not to fight or to sit for a compromise;
yet as war progresses
other nations keep expanding their support
with guns and ammunitions
with bombs and war tanks
as each country which is at war
keeps seeking solidarity,
and the other country sympathizes
and chooses to extend help
thus prolonging the war
and snowballing devastation
while world leaders assemble
to solicit and stop the war
yet each nation which is at war
sticks to its own ego of patriotism
and selects not to withdraw its forces
while eyes keep watching the horror
while ears keep hearing the explosions
though hearts keep pulsating in pain
to see innocent people losing
their lives in vain,
and their homes, their unity
and harmony all asunder
as their streets with debris look like ruins;
until finally years later
a story of that war is covered and written
which narrates the chronicle
of the heroes who triumphed
of the vanquished who lost
and this is then made into a copy book
with chapters written with pride
and every student thus reads
of great wars and great leaders
though there was great cruelty.

Well, what is the price
of such a history book?
what is the worth of reading it
if men cannot change
or reform their minds?
Even science and technology advances
and enhances health and safety of people
but the books of history have never
attained its aim of enlightenment
that war is futile and not worth its fate
as the agony it creates vibrates
and encroaches in those painful hearts
that war again repeats its echo
and re-starts in vengeance
escalating terror and torment
for families and children so mercilessly
as if humanity has no respect nor value.