Sometime They’ll Give a War
The whole
thing is
coming apart
at the seams.
How can
something
once so dear
become a
death knell
in the
present —
Daddy on
the top
rung of
the ladder,
hanging the
Christmas angel;
The sled &
doll &
the catcher’s
mitt under
the tree.
These were
the truths
we held
self-evident.
These were
the things
the flag
symbolized &
we’d march
off &
die for.
We fought
a different
war than
they sent
us to.
“Sometime
they’ll give
a war
& nobody
will come…”**Carl Sandburg,
The People, Yes