If you say that a child should not go off to war
Then I say everyone I know is a child
Youth in wisdom and intelligence
Full of potential
Not made to waste in the ways of war
But blossom in the days of peace

If the worst you can call me is naive
Then I will accept it
If the worst you can call me is pacifist
Then I will live it
Because if I am these things
Then I have conquered my nature
For it is the violence within
That heaven will judge for it's favor

Tethers that prevent flight
from shaken swollen tears
feathers spent in woeful plight
and a snipers cross-hair sight
amid muffled explosive cheers

Brothers in Arms
never lost to forgotten years
and the sound of a distant gunshot
is all that he hears.

R.I.P. Sgt L.J.

For centuries we have all been fighting wars.
Taking up arms and going off to fight.
Fight because we’re told to or because we think it’s right.
Taking up arms to fight the good fight.

War becomes a habit – If you let it.

So we all go out and **** all our foes.
We gun them down and pick over the bones.
We leave them for dead rolling about in pain.
And sing Christmas Carols when it’s over.

War became a habit – And we let it.

Copyright: Gordon Warren (1980)

A friend of mine was unemployed,
he didn’t know what to do.
So he went down to the Army office and
said “I want to join you”.

So they sent him off to war,
for something he didn’t know.
They put a gun in his hand and
said “shoot the ones across the road”.

So he squatted down in the mud,
with the ****, the bullets, the bodies and the blood.
Trying to think of the ones he loved.
Trying to ignore all the death and the pain.

Then he saw the enemy come up to him.
He got his gun and went over to them.
He looked him straight in the eyes,
“That’s the first mistake”, the Officers replied.

For he saw a young man about his age,
he said “You’re the enemy, I must shoot you dead!”.
The man said “Why?” and stood there still.

My friend was silent and thought a lot.
His mind went crazy, he couldn’t shoot.
He couldn’t see why the war was on.
Why was he fighting? What’s to be won?
Why shoot a man the same as him?

So he put his gun on the ground,
and the enemy did the same.
Then the Officers went up to them,
and shot them both in the brain, and said
“They should have played the game”,
and went back from where they came,
to carry on the war,
like all those times before.
Safe in their bunkers,
with a gin and a straw!

Copyright: Gordon Warren (1986)

There is probably some grand ideal I am protecting
what it is I do not care to know

Survived another Year
Amongst the ruin of a stranger's land
With the dusty roads, exuding those waves of heat
A sandstorm blowing in from the east
as a War song echoes in the west

I am Blinded by Rage
Though I am glad I do not see

Throughout this ordeal
The mask of Patriotism has fallen off
But I am truly free here
Far from the Home of the Brave

I stand here with bruised fists
and a battered face
With scars on my back
and a smile that isn't whole
Fighting the Good Fight

I stand here
To express my gratitude to War and Conflict
For Blood is Gold
and I am Ready to Bleed