Rants Log-in | Search Rants | Account Info

STILL COME THE FLAG-DRAPED COFFINS

“Show me no flag-draped coffins!”—
Cynically I said one day,
Because the flag-draped coffins,
Then, were all hidden away.

Those who caused so much anguish,
Sought so to hide it from view.
Thus, were the flags to vanish,
Thus would the thought go from you.

Such are the men of mayhem,
Those who from comfort make war.
They merely start an anthem,
Yell, “Fire!” and then hit the floor.

Those whom the anthem reaches
Go forth to render their souls.
Meanwhile, those who make speeches,
See not those bodies with holes.

This is the age-old story,
The clarion call to arms.
There sprouts a touch of glory,
When one, thus, another harms.

You’d think, in this new cent’ry,
We would have been more evolved;
E’en sans the cloak of “gentry,”
It’s worse how claims are resolved!

So little seems the diff’rence
Regardless who’s in charge.
From that, we draw the inf’rence
That, “So, onward shall we barge!.”

“Show me no flag-draped coffins!”
That irony now is lost.
Still come the flag-draped coffins—
Unhidden—but still at great cost!