Message to My Children's Children by Peter Reum

Despite my doubts I plunged ahead
Committing gave me horrible dread
Wars made no sense so empty I guessed
Real reasons why we fight are supressed

Young people are delicate, so young and fresh
Innocence once lost can be hard to replenish
Our children are told lies I think
By old farts whose motives stink

Wars once noble quickly turn sour
The true rationale is always dour
The mighty dollar is the real reason
Why short-term truths are really treason

Farm boys volunteer innocently to fight
Never foreseeing their upcoming plight
Promised that those skills they will learn
Will be marketable--big money they'll
earn

Instead they go to infantry and airborne
Rueing they believed such shit-now torn
Being human pincushions are their new fate
Replacing the pitch "sucker recruiters" have made

Patriotism is a noble call to arms
If your only other choice is the farm
The men and women who entered intact
Return more broken--- that's a fact

Perhaps our armed forces' missions can change
A reason for honest national service isn't strange
It would be wonderful to aid humane missions with bread
Not waiting for the next false police action instead

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