Names On A Wall Poem by Melody McKinstrie

Names on a wall
Men and women
Who paid with their lives
To fight for our rights.
Could we please
Please honor
Their sacrifice?

Could we start
By being more
Cognizant of what
Is at stake?
When we go to war
We can lose
So much more
Than we will ever gain.
When we destabilize
Another country
And global region.

When veterans speak out
Calling for diplomacy
And peace
Before military might
Is engaged.
Should we not care
About their opinion?
Should we disregard
It as weakness?
And not what it really is
But wisdom
And experience.

Someone always gets rich
On the backs of conflict
You can name them
Those perpetrators
Of the military industrial complex.

Names on a wall
For all to see
We can feel their letters
As well
Taking in the texture
Like reading braille
But dear God
We are not feeling
Their loss deeply
If we just say
Your death was not in vain.
When we call for more
And more war
When will it end?