WAR GAMES
All wars are boyish, and are fought by boys. –Herman Melville
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Pray God, if men must still be boys,
Why lords must arm them with men’s toys
And preach that “Holy” wars are just —
Just like the God in whom we trust.
And so, along for the ride we bus,
Our baggage tagged: ‘TWAS EVER THUS.
arekhill1, and 
The Observation Post 
Michaeline Montezinos 12:28 am on December 24, 2014 Permalink |
And so it goes from the ancient times, youth must die for our crimes, while despots rule and men are mice. ready for the blood sacrifice. Blame not your god nor blame mine, for a tyrant only seeks the power, as he grooms hmself in a ivory tower, while below all mankind marches to a drum, beaten by an evil one.
I liked your poem and here is mine, inspired by your lively rhyme.
Copyright December 23, 2014
by Michaeline Montezinos
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mistermuse 8:19 am on December 24, 2014 Permalink |
Pardon my sense of humor, Michaeline, but you must have written your poem in blank verse, because I don’t see it.
As for blaming anyone’s god, as a deist, I don’t believe the creator does or ever has seen fit to reveal itself to man; man is what the creator designed from the beginning: a very mixed bag, to say the least. I think it’s fair to say that if the creator were human, we wouldn’t be handing out any blue ribbons for the end result….at least, not without knowing why. Maybe the creator is the divine equivalent of an abstract expressionist, who knows?
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Michaeline Montezinos 1:13 pm on December 24, 2014 Permalink |
Mistermuse, I thought the poem you wrote was about war. Why put the deist theory all over it? It was a good poem as it stands, okay? Not meaning to be ctritical but every person reads a meaning into a poem that is their impression, okay? Iwill try to write my poem like a poem. Hope that it will present to you that way.
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Michaeline Montezinos 1:19 pm on December 24, 2014 Permalink
So it goes from ancient times,
Youth must pay for our crimes.
While despots rule and men are mice,
Ready for the blood sacrifice.
Blame not your god nor blame mine,
For a tyrant only seeks the power
As he sits in his ivory tower.
While below mankind marches to the drum,
To fulfill the dreams of an evil one.
(this is the final draft of my poem)
Copyright December 24, 2014
by Michaeline Montezinos
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mistermuse 2:18 pm on December 24, 2014 Permalink
I use the word “deist” as a one-word explanatory approximation of how I look at God, whom I mentioned twice in my poem. I am not a deist in the sense that someone is a Catholic, Jew or member/follower of any religion – it is simply an encapsulation of my current thinking as it relates to the creator. God, men, war – they are all interconnected morally, even if only by God’s failure to “educate” man from early on that war is an aberration, and a so-called “Holy ” war is even more so.
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mistermuse 2:20 pm on December 24, 2014 Permalink |
As to your poem, Michaeline, I like it, and say “amen.”
P.S. I’ll say one thing atheists have in their favor: they don’t have a god to blame, either for acting or failing to act.
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Michaeline Montezinos 4:38 pm on December 24, 2014 Permalink |
I may pray to my God and I may worship my God. Prayers that are answered, and many are,and some are unanswered. But that does not mean I can be irresponsible. I must obey the law of the land I live in. I try to treat others as I would have them treat me. No excuses.
I agree that war is never “holy.” It is just a stupid reason to gather the masses and fight the other side. I am sorry if I objected to your theory on deism; I should have known better. Once you explained how your theory and the poem are intertwined, I understood now what you were saying. Forgive me, mistermuse. I am but an amateur here in this magnificent world of poetry and writing.
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mistermuse 6:58 pm on December 24, 2014 Permalink |
No problem, Michaeline. We all say things we could’ve said better. Here’s a quote from a book I recently recommended, MARK TWAIN & ME by Dorothy Quick: “…words are difficult things to manage when it comes to expressing one’s innermost feelings, and even the best of them are inadequate at revealing deep and sincere emotions.”
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Michaeline Montezinos 10:40 pm on December 24, 2014 Permalink |
After the crazy holidays are over, I must get to the library and order that book! My husband can place an order online and if it is not available at that branch, it can be sent from another library. I think this so cool, don’t you, mistermuse?
thank you for allowing me to express myself w/o fearing I would hurt any one’s feelings. [Good to remember that, Michaeline.]
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mistermuse 11:28 pm on December 24, 2014 Permalink |
My wife sometimes orders library books the same way. I seldom go to the library anymore because I already have too many unread books on hand.
Enjoy the holidays.
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arekhill1 4:24 pm on December 25, 2014 Permalink |
Nicely said
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mistermuse 12:22 am on December 26, 2014 Permalink |
Gracias. I see from a quick reading of your post on another network that you had a good time south of the border. Welcome home and goodnight (it’s past my bedtime).
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