PostPoems Be Artistic. Be Creative. Be Inspired!

By



Richard P. Haesche





Viewed from afar, in abstract,

war is but a headline, a caption,

a sketch, a new draft call...

to be read about during your daily routine

of going to and from work,

or after the supper dishes are done and you're

settled in your overstuffed chair

reading the evening paper.



Fire flickers low in the fireplace

warding off the chill of the wintry cold.

Kids are busy with homework or

just watching the tube.



Viewed from afar, untouched by its grim

realities, war is like an abstract painting...

or a far out folk tune...

or a metaphoric poem that touches you not.



You're worried about taxes, your mortgage payment,

your welfare check, or the price of butter.

You think `What a shame! Where will it all end?'

Then you turn the page to a sports editorial...

or Ann Landers

...or the comics.

After all, don't we all need laughs?



Evening ends. You retire to a sound sleep

untouched by the demand for more troops in Iraq...



Across town...

or across the street...

or down the block, a mother sits, crying unashamedly

while a tight-jawed father,

fighting to hold back his own tears,

drops the crumpled telegram to the floor...

an epistle of grief!



Two hearts, ripped from their moorings,

by a war that made them wonder...



Two hearts, touched by the war, and a son,

Too damn dead to care anymore!