Hard Facts Harder Faced

Hard Facts Harder Faced

Who said our soldiers could not be psychos?
Who said we always are saints?
Where is it written we do the right thing
And never show evil or taint?

War is hell, lest we forget it,
And crimes of war even much more…
Can we train a human to kill, not to feel,
Without evil allowed in that door?

Rape is a tool and an agent of war.
So is massacre, torture, mayhem.
Even a good man can snap to a monster
And live only to slay ‘em.

None of us are guiltless, much to our pain,
But we are trapped in this way,
If ever we forget the humanity of victims
From Coshocton to Mai Lai.

© Copyright, Daphne Yvonne Bradshaw, 2000.
All rights reserved.

Who Determines Human?

Who Determines Human?

What makes difference too very different
To be considered human?
Does one particular type of person
Have only that special numen?

Does the phrase “not like us”
Have to equal “deserve to die?”
Can someone very different
Still basically be like you or I?

Many wars have been fought,
Many millions be killed,
These questions stay unanswered
And our hatreds remain unstilled.

© Copyright, Daphne Yvonne Bradshaw, 2000.
All rights reserved.