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Alpha List
Philosophical
Poems
Poems About
Terrorism
and 9/11
Sonnets
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All poems: copyright by
Nicholas Gordon
Free scrapbook poems
permission to use
provided by the author. |
You are now poised to kill, perhaps to die,
To perpetrate the ultimate offense,
To plead, perhaps, the warrior's defense:
The crime is mutual; not mine the why.
You want, of all times, this time not to lie,
Or be beguiled by righteous innocence,
Or find in such a nightmare common sense,
Or give to grief some comforting reply.
You know that war is evil, yet you must
Engage in acts unspeakable and cruel
To serve some oft-miscalculated end.
And though the cause be criminal or just,
You need not be a villain or a fool
To yield to furies you need not defend. |
