Warning (edited for publication in "the curb")
by eledriel Added: 27.6.04

The earth is stained red with the blood of mankind.
It mingles and flows. Men, women, and children
are tributaries feeding a scarlet river which flows
into an ever-moving scarlet sea of life-in-death.
War causes such destruction in the killing of men
and in the theft of the innocence of those left behind
That cannot be repaired by the slow forward march of time
or by a summation of all of the best intentions of humanity.
It is an indelible scar, marring the perfection of our great potential.
The once pure-hearted youth stand beside the shores of this sea,
Watching with horror its ceaseless ebb and flow.
Their wails of grief and desperation fill the air,
Shattering the silence which follows the storm.
The golden days of their innocence are past,
they've has been stolen as easily as candy from a baby.
They've been touched by evil's black and withered hand,
Its touch cold as the bitter chill of a winter night.
They are reaping the bitter harvest sowed by their elders,
As has been the fate of the young for generations unnumbered.
Their peaceful Eden is burning with the flames of hatred,
Struck from the flint of ignorance and the cold steel of selfishness.
Intolerance, like so much gasoline, feeds the ever-growing flames
Until they are white-hot, all-consuming, and unquenchable,
They hungrily devour everything held dear.
When will we learn?