On war's terrible ironies

[red_queen]

Five Souls

First Soul

I was a peasant of the Polish plain;
I left my plough because the message ran:-
Russia, in danger, needed every man
To save her from the Teuton; and was slain.
I gave my life for freedom - This I know
For those who bade me fight had told me so. Second Soul

Comments

[akirlu]

Timely. And I like it very much, except for its very British tin ear: Main and Lorraine only rhyme if one speaks neither German nor French, or only speak them with an English accent.

[red_queen]

As Herman Wouk said in _Inside/Outside_, sword and broad only rhyme in Brooklyn ;-}.

When I can bear it, I read about the cultural and social history of wars: what it's like to live in a country at war. There doesn't seem to be much of a sense of urgency about the war(s) that the US is currently engaged in, nor a sense of crisis. Just... acceptance from some and protest from others, but somehow, under all of it, almost a sense of futility. We're used to it. It's no longer an extraordinary condition of being.

Dammit, it SHOULD be.