Francis Duggan War Poems

The war supposed to end all wars it is long over it ended more than ninety years ago
But most of us human beings are known to be aggressive and not unwilling to create a foe
After two World wars and many major battles we hear of wars and rumors of wars every day
And the poor in war are those who mostly suffer this is how it is and it will always be this way
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Of the horrors of war we hear every day
And of death and destruction in cities far away
And any lesson it would seem not learned from the past
And mistrust and enmity for centuries last.
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Though talk of war and death and such I do not wish to hear
To glorify war heroes we have the balladeer
The old men displaying their medals march on war memorial day
Though they look tired and weary now and they are old and gray.
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Your ideas of war and war heroes are your own and that's okay with me
But when you tell me war leads to peace with you I can't agree
Bad feelings between people who have been to war for years and years remain
In war as well as the needless loss of life friends you don't ever gain
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If you judge him do not judge him harshly or why judge him at all
Since the darkest of memories are his to recall
Many of his comrades around him under gunfire did fall
Their names to be seen on War Memorial wall.
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He always wears his war medals on his coat of them he feels so proud
And he has a hearing problem the reason he talks so loud
He says I'm a World war hero of which some don't wish to know
Of a battle fought in Europe more than six decades ago.
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By those interested in war history war history is read
But the winners write the war history or so it is said
That is how it is and will always be
What is true to one is not to another that's how it seems to me
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Adown the streets of the town the winds of Winter blow
And the weather it is chilly and cold enough to snow
And old Joan is out walking a black rain coat she wear
But she does not have a hat on the wind tosses her gray hair.
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Of war and it's bloodshed far too much we know
Let's hear it for peace and for all a fair go
Nationalism, Religion, Patriotism and Culture only seem to divide
And war leaders declare we have God on our side.
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Do not wish to hear your war stories of battles fought and won
Since I saw on t v this evening a mother grieve for her dead son
Her son murdered by a sniper with a bullet in his back
And I could only feel pity for this poor mother in Iraq
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Despite death and injury it has all been in vain
The war it is over but the hatred remain
The war it is over but the hatred won't die
And that war leads to peace and justice is always a lie.
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Enough of war from war there is no gain
Only injuries, bloodshed and death and pain
What we need is love and peace and harmony
Enough of war and it's tragic history,
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I'll tell to you a story of one I vaguely know
An aged veteran of World war 2 some sixty years ago
A poor worn out old warrior the years have left him gray
In the early stages of forgetfulness his memory in decay.
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For to celebrate war there's always one more parade
And out of war warriors heroes are made
Only the good die young some are known to say
But I know good people who are old and gray.
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For to defeat terrorism one do not wage war on terror for terrorists do not respect man made laws
Since the only way that terror can be defeated is for Governments to attack it's root cause
And that is not to shoot and bomb and murder for terror is caused by inequality
For the war on terror ought to be more friendly a benign war on man made poverty.
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I've always thought that the word holy involved prayer
But the Muslims of Ambon in Indonesia say they ought declare
A holy war on all Christians living there
And religious tolerance seems strained beyond repair.
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A war about God and a war about Land
The tragic loss of lives I do not understand
A just war in truth is a damnable lie
For in modern day conflicts many civilians do die
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With hair dyes and face lifts he covers his wrinkles and gray
The War President is in retirement today
In his beautiful home with his loyal and attractive wife
One of the very privileged minority enjoying the good life.
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Of war heroes so much is written and said
But for every living war hero there are a thousand war dead
And dead heroes and dead villians they all are the same
They will not hear you speak when you mention them by name.
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Along the war Avenue of Honour a plaque to a dead soldier nailed to every tree
Brave young men who died in battle their reward for their bravery
They died in the war said to end all wars in the killing fields of World war one
But many wars since and far too many bloody battles and peace in the World not yet won.
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Of battles won and noble soldiers you hear the old balladeer sing
But war only brings death and suffering and war never solves anything
And the mental scars of war keep festering long after the battle does end
You badly injure or kill someone's loved one that person will not be your friend.
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I will oppose the men of war until the Reaper takes me
Until the breath that gives me life it finally forsakes me
I'll use words for to oppose them they send the young to battle
To fight for the colour of their National flag and die like slaughtered cattle.
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The winners write the war history or so it has been said
And though they may have their celebrations they cannot bring back the dead
For the dead are gone forever in eternal rest they lay
And in war winners are losers despite what some do think or say,
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For them in their Homeland no memorial or last post is ever played
And in their honour there never was a parade
The brave young Irishmen who fought in World war one
In their Homeland ignored as if wrong they had done.
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With the war supposed to end all wars all wars did not end
As this is something quite obvious why otherwise even try to pretend
Hundreds of people many of them civilians badly injured and dying in war zones every day
That nothing has been learned from wars of the past does seem such a sad thing to say
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For war crimes the losers only seem to pay
Since the winners write the history it is this way
The winning war leaders for their war crimes never take any blame
The losers are those who have to wear the shame
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So full of self conceit and egotistical pride
Behind face lifts and hair dyes from aging she does hide
But hair dyes and face lifts does not save one from time's decay
Her biological clock on her ticking away
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The war to end all wars of course is a lie
How many more people in conflicts will die
Before the war hungry leaders may even slightly realize
That on their behalf warring is not very wise
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The band it was playing 'Advance Australia Fair'
And balloons were floating in the balmy Summer air
And the recently returned war hero led the big street parade
Where the gunfire rang loud a name for himself he had made.
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To so called patriots and pro war people and those to enlightenment blind
They are not to be trusted and are traitor kind
But they march for peace and I see that as great
And they are the people that I celebrate
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They stifle the grass and they stifle the flowers
The weeds that grow rank in the warm Spring showers
Reminds me of the war men who for war create their foe
They don't give the flower of peace a chance to grow
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George W Bush is spending billions in U S taxpayers money fighting a war in Iraq
Whilst the people he is claiming to liberate are constantly under attack
From terrorists he helped to create where thousands are injured and thousands are dead
Bush is just not up to the top job and the power it has gone to his head
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The praises of war and war heroes the patriots and nationalists may sing
But war in reality is a terrible thing
And lessons cannot be learned in what we glorify
On our glorification of war the wrong of it we do deny
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If this is the price to pay for peace then peace comes at a huge cost
Every day many innocent lives in wars are lost
Whilst families and friends and loved ones left to weep for their dead
And many years of grieving of them lay ahead
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We live in the same World and to live we breathe air
But many must feel life is very unfair
Another senseless war is raging in Iraq
Where right to life once more is under attack
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War is a thing that has occurred Worldwide
And far too many people in wars have died
And of bombings in cities in Lands far away
We hear of and see on t v every day
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They are war damaged people the poor people of Iraq
By night and day they live in fear of terrorist attack
Terrorism that war has brought to their Country that could go on for years
Division drawn by tribal Warlords in Land of blood and tears
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Through darkened sky the b 52 pass
And the pilot whoops tonight 'we will kick ass'
He release his bombs a loud bang in the dark
The sky light up the bombs have hit their mark.
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All around the World war is raging and the mother grieves for her dead son
And what did the poor fellow die for as nothing is solved by the gun?
No bombs and guns don't solve a problem they only make the problem worse
The lust for land and power and money on us human kind is a curse.
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An ageing ex soldier in his late fifties and one might say a war damaged man
He fought in conflict in southern Asia against the Vietcong in Vietnam
In a war where heroes were forgotten and Vietnam scarcely mentioned today
And history never written by the losers it's the winners write history they say.
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The story has been told down through the ages of how men nailed the son of God to a wooden cross
And still we hear of crimes against humanity and one person's loss of rights is everybody's loss
And still we have men going to war for God and Wealth and Land and Glory though their God hardly with them would agree
And many far too many go unpunished for awful crimes against humanity.
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Your sworn enemy of today tomorrow might be your friend
And things are very different when hostilities end
And in any disagreement one party not all to blame
But when ageing men send young men and women for them to die in that I see great shame.
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Us humans have not learned anything from wars now long gone
Since the killing and maiming in wars does go on
And in terrorism one of the side affects of war innocent people with their lives made to pay
For the sins of others this does seem sad to say
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Far too many Countries governments with nuclear weapons at their disposal in truth one can say
This is something we are not in need of in the World of today
No government should have nuclear weapons at their disposal government politicians from Hiroshima have not learned a thing
Of the praises of their nuclear capabilities many nuclear power leaders their own praises does sing
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Some ageing war heroes like to talk of wars they have fought in
Though many young men die for every war win
They wear their war medals on war memorial day
To honor their fallen comrades in lands far away
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Everytime i turn on the radio news of more tweeting threats i do hear
Of Donald J Trump trying to instil in other Nations leaders fear
His most recent boast is his nuclear button is bigger than that of Kim Jong Un
In such dangerous and threatening talk there is not any fun
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They were the children of the now forgotten and like you and I they had their dreams of fame
But in unmarked graves their bones forever resting and does anyone remember them by name?
And does anybody even think about them and in thinking of them kind things of them say
Like they were nice kids and they loved life and were happy
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That war leads to acts of terrorism does seem fair to say
And more people in bombings and shootings are dying every day
That peace comes from conflict surely based on a lie
Some to kill those they see as their enemy are prepared to die
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That we learn from our past mistakes in some instances a lie
For God and Flag and Country so many still prepared to die
In a World of millions of Homeless people where poverty is rife
We still have war that leads to terrorism and disrespect for human life
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War is a child of intolerance and hate
Fear, death and suffering is all it does create
It's living victims are the dispossessed and refugee
From war zones every day thousands of people across borders do flee
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