Victim As Combatant As Combatant As Victim Poem by Raj Dronamraju

War clowns in victim hats
Those who have seen too many action movies
Those who hope to get someone to pay for their college education
The volunteer and the draftee - History will split the difference with sympathy

Ordinary people trying to live their lives in combat zones
The old lady killed while picking vegetables
The guests blown up while attending a wedding
The legacy of war crimes is labelled - They are the wrong identity to claim legal redress

Soldiers trained and soldiers drained
Made to kill when the on switch is flipped
Broken humanity and narrowed associations
A future civilian has incurred permanent damage

A kingdom of McDonald's that kills for petrol and other kinds of theft
That hopes to make its military more about irreplaceable machines than disposable people
They gave him a medal even though he was more of a victim than a hero
Although not as much of a victim as those they kill in the name of something that in retrospect seemed so small