Innocence Lost Poem by Mike Smith
Innocence Lost
Child soldier with his gun
Blood stained fingers, half my size
Pulls the trigger
Thunder, smoke
The abductee must close his eyes
Two years ago his mom and dad
Had begged their son to shoot them
The rebels warned
If he did not
The boys life was condemned
Brainwashed, hardened, trained for battle
Kony had taught him well
They'd send him out
To villages
He'd burn them into hell
Boyhood flies away with bullets
War his greatest comfort
Slaughter void of
Fear or guilt
Severed limbs make red dirt
Thatch grass houses blazing
In the darkness of the night
Child soldier
With his torch
Grinning with delight
This one was inspired by the LRA, a rebel militia who carry out acts of terror in Uganda, Sudan, and The Democratic Republic of Congo. Their leader is Joseph Kony. Among other attrocities, this group is widely accused of kidnapping young boys from small villages and training them to use as soldiers. I'm far from current on my statistics on this (and the data available is likely inaccurate) but the last estimate I read some years ago put the number of abductions around 20,000. Virtually all of them were boys and girls between 5 and 14. The boys become soldiers or slaves, the girls are often sold into sexual slavery which funds LRA military operations
A powerful and thought provoking poem And so terribly sad But I'm always glad to see poets speak out about this kind of tragedy Thank you Mike
Yes I agree with you totally mike. Your poetry helps open me up.thank you
It's easy not to think about the terrible things... They're painful to think about. But it's important not too sweep such things under the rug, that's how they can be allowed to happen
I guess I should say, its a great poem, but a terrible story.
A terrible story indeed. But one that is grounded in true events. These are the horrors that our worlds least fortunate inhabitants endure. Thanks for reading
all around the world they use children to do something deplorable even in western countries... one thing they're easily manipulated.
Very true. They make easy targets for cruel minds. Thank you Manonton
Yes, now a days, the youngester are turned to terrorism, Very sad
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem
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4/26/2024 4:02:10 PM # 1.0.0.1119
Mike, we live in dreadful times, everywhere you look. I was inspired to write one myself Called My Brother Ali based on the dirty faced little boy who had been bombed out of his home in Aleppo. His photo appeared on the front page of all the leading papers in the UK a few days ago.Good seems to be fighting bad on so many varied fronts these days I despair for the world my sons will grow old in.