Cave, Cave, Deus Videt <br />(Beware, Beware, God Sees Thee) <br />. <br />. <br />. <br />Crude those canyons <br />scratched by fear and hate <br />where hope abandoned <br />young men to their fate <br />whose blood erodes <br />wee rivulets through the trench <br />as minds implode <br />from lack of sleep and stench <br /> <br />From factory and field <br />the bugles called <br />to don the sword and shield <br />pure youth enthralled, <br />lured by adventure, <br />travel, coaxed by thrill, <br />who once indentured <br />would be dressed to kill <br /> <br />But soon the merry bands <br />daydreams were shattered, <br />where once were farmers lands <br />the dead lay scattered, <br />too soon to learn <br />in war what life is worth, <br />too soon returned <br />to meld a hungry earth <br /> <br />Stay low lest swarms <br />of bullets sting as bees <br />or winds transform <br />the air to gaseous breeze, <br />two to a match <br />the snipers site by three, <br />entrench and catch <br />the stink of deaths disease <br /> <br />When yesterdays close mate <br />to death succumbs <br />he's instantly dead weight <br />the friendship numbs, <br />a trench wall <br />swiftly serves cadavers tomb, <br />it must be culled <br />to stay the noxious fumes <br /> <br />At times the dead limbs <br />prod out from the sod <br />and though it's grim <br />in war not much is odd, <br />one stiff for days <br />was offering a hand, <br />who passed its way <br />for luck shook it deadpanned <br /> <br />In war deaths place <br />as sole halcyon midwife <br />bears each corpse its space <br />not known in life, <br />youth called brave <br />by tribalistic cultures <br />in epilogues o'er graves <br />by chieftain vultures <br /> <br />War's an old mans game <br />the young mere chattel <br />whose purity's inflamed <br />and aimed towards battle, <br />our history won't soften <br />into calm, <br />our nails aren't just for coffins <br />but for palms<br /><br />Richard S. Wells<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/it-was-the-war-to-end-all-wars/
