War: the hidden truth
War: enlist or lose your youth
Join the game, the posters say,
Decorating the poles and the tall glass panes
Attracting the pure souls wanting to do good
But all they got was terror and distress under their hood.
Enclosing the brownness of the trees
Balancing on the edge, promoting countries.
Pressuring the men to be “manly” and to fight
However it wasn’t a choice, nor a discussion
Enrol now and increase the chance of being gifted a concussion.
They were once lively young boys running about,
Their curious eyes full of innocence and colour.
Deciding to hide their report cards from their mother.
Now their eyes are weak with fatigue
Bent double like beggars under sacks
Deliberating when the madness would terminate.
BANG! Another gas attack
Soldiers fleeing, trying to put on a gas mask just in time
Floundering violently is the slowest one,
He couldn’t adjust clumsy mask which was undone.
Plunging at his friend, he started to drown.
Looking down at him turned my stomach upside down.
Good poem, Hava. Well done.