Added 23 June 2003

What do you remember from the war?
The rousing music
or the wailing mothers?
A flag proudly waving
or a cloth shrouding the dead?
The obscure green vision of a battle through goggles
or the blood red stains in a coffin to be used for more dead?
Do you remember the cost,
or do you remember, the PRICE.
The fresh-faced soldier victoriously waving his arms,
or the burned orphan boy who has none left to wave.

That is what I will remember.
To the point where a part of me
wishes I never saw it at all.

Look at him.
Look at the thousands like him.
And tell me again
about the "necessary evil" of war.

And tell me then:
Will you remember what you've been fed,
or what has been taken?

Written 14 April 2003