Transcendental Sonnet #609:
Send Yourselves to Iraq

The virtue of verisimilitude
That quality of seeming to be true
I observe at the risk of seeming rude
You do not have that anymore do you
O lords of government so proud and high?

I witness your undoing with a sigh
I watch you dig your own graves with your teeth
Your gluttonous consumption of our youth
Whom you have lulled with lies from underneath
Will fall of its own weight met by the truth

That truth which is objective calm and cold
Speaking the slaughter of youth by the old
Only old cowards like you are so bold

Give my son back! Send yourselves to Iraq

*~ ( + ) ~*

+Steven Curtis Lance

for my son on May Day

from Transcendental Sonnets and Other Observations, Copyright MMIV Silke LLC

There was a time, I believe, (unless history books are as inaccurate as they are accused!) when soldiers were led into battle by their commanders, their kings, their princes, their emperors. They braved the front lines with those men. They slaughtered, yes, they killed, but they were with their men. I am by no means for this war. I believe that many innocent people are dying unneccessarily on both sides. However, since it is a reality that we must face, I don't see why Bush or his cabinet members aren't down there being bitten by camel spiders in the freezing din of evening or tasting sand, smelling death right alongside their men. President should not be a safe position. It was never meant to be. To me, being president means being willing to die for your country. Unfortunately, the cookie is stale and not crumbling in any kind of constructive way.
~Whew. There you go. My rant for the day. Great poem, Steve. It got me to talk so much!

~Best~
Megan

Dear Steven...
Megan is absolutley right;this is a great Sonnet.
The world has gone insane...really....

Krieg ist:
wenn die Dummheit der Mehrheit die Einheit der Gesamtheit stört,
wenn Vermessenheit und Bosheit der Kindheit die Gesundheit verwehrt
und die Zufriedenheit der Menschheit mangels Weisheit der Vergangenheit gehört...

Jutta Schulte
(*1961), deutsche Dichterin und Aphoristikerin



(I love you)

Deine
Silke