Why ever war? That's a question Larry Gibbs has been asking himself ever since he saw this military cemetery in Sainte Avold, France, when he was eleven years old. Larry shares, "This is one of our family photos of Sainte Avold Cemetery in France. I was not quite 12 years old when we visited it in 1961.... I was so struck by the image, and the immense tragedy that it represented, that I wrote the first verse of my poem then. After thinking about it every year since then on Remembrance Day, finally 63 years later on the weekend before Remembrance Day 2024, I finished it."
Thank you, Larry, for this beautiful poem, and for letting me share it.
WHY EVER WAR !!
We often hear of Flanders Fields,
But do we hear the cry
Of falling soldiers torn apart
Just lying there to die.
What of mothers and of fathers
What have they to gain?
How can any of us measure
The grief, the loss, the pain.
There is no valid justification
At any place or time
That makes it right to take a life
Be it ever yours or mine.
Both of the sides of any conflict
Must really take a look
And surely find that there is nothing
Worth any life we took.
What is in the mind or heart
Of someone who would say
Just go ahead and slay that one.
It's THEM that ought to pay !!
To help them to find deep within
What's missing from their soul,
A look into a mirror then
Must help to shape their goal.
To want to treat all other folk
The way that they would see
Their own selves being treated
That is all that needs to be.
That is all that needs to be !!
Larry Gibbs
November 2024
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Date:
Monday, November 11, 2024
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