Dogs of War

Dogs of war
Wages of sin
Profit and loss
Don't count us in.

The numbers odd
Evens out the loss
War must be waged
Profits made
Any which way
The coin is tossed.

War must be waged
For down the ages
Wages must be paid
Balance the ledger
Of warriors-sages.

Earn then
The hard wages of sin
Count your child's tears in
This year's grim accounting.

Use them in glossy covers
Transnational headlines
Be moved to tears
Don't watch out
For the graves dug out
Under our feet.

Trenches dug-out,
Bodies lugged out,
Impromptu graves
For the men who don't
Count.
This world is
A butcher's
Tax benefit orphanage.

...
(Down Route 50 the
Story goes
Pony express
A trail one rarely chose.
Riders of the apocalypse anew
With those young men
You asked for,
In phrase glib and snide,
"Orphans preferred"
You advertised.

What about their brides?
What about their babies?
What about their souls?

Aren't you going to fill those
With bullet holes?

The wages of war
Are profits of sin
Reap the gruesome gain
At skulls Harvest time
Don't count me in.

Understand your
Decimation
Was all to a point.

The common man crushed
The heroes trussed
By laws of the land
Punitive legalities
They couldn't understand.

You're at your table
We are at your feet
Picking up the crumbs
Of our defeat.

War crimes committed
Not just by dogs of war
We let loose
But by those guns
That we funded
War mongers remitted.

Humanity forevermore
Remain unacquitted.

(c) Amrita Valan 2017