Socialist Sonnet No. 172

Lest We Forget

 

‘Lest we forget’ the pious legend runs

Around the cenotaph, fallen leaves swept

Away for the marking of that unkept

Promise, the final silencing of guns,

Rumbling ever since. Led by royalty

Decked out in their martial pomposity,

While conflicts with all gross ferocity

Make a deadly mockery of loyalty,

The gathered all silently bow their heads

And whisper to themselves, ‘Never no more!’

But such sentiment does not prevent war:

Indeed the living thus betray the dead.

There’s no peace, not even an armistice

While capitals continue to claim their price.

 

D. A.