A Centenary On...

They said it was the war to end all war

and we are still questioning what it was for.

The human race cannot help but fight,

arguing over what they think is right.

We have a compulsion to take up the gun

and pick off each other one by one.

Somewhere, someone must think it’s fun.

Have the factories stopped making their weapons?

Has the ministry emptied its stores?

Do bombs still fall from the heavens?

Will Janus ever close his doors?

But somehow it makes us feel better

to follow tradition to the letter,

to plant flowers and line up white gravestones

for Tom, Dick and Harry, Brown, Smith and Jones.

Polish off a memorial

shown in a war-torn tutorial,

that teaches us all about grief

to try and forge some kind of relief.

We will still wear the poppy

to show we remember our dead,

soon forgotten with a morning coffee

and a slice of think-healthy brown bread.

The trenches are tactical units

and gas cans are flash bang grenades.

We’re firing higher calibre bullets,

and bayonets are stealthier blades.

de Havilland is now the Tornado,

the Zeppelins converted to drones.

Our outlook on war may be different,

but we’re throwing the same sticks and stones.

So use this year to remember

what brave men and women have done.

They died to give us a future

that they themselves have foregone.

And no, the fighting’s not finished,

I’m not sure anyone’s won

But their sacrifice’s not diminished,

so remember for another century to come.