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the white horse

by crystal zhang

@yetanotherzhang on instagram


War is a sharp-toothed monster,

That haunts the hearts of soldiers.

It's a bloody missile-mouthed beast,

Roaring bombs and mustard gas heat.


It is a rabid horror rearing its ugly head,

That slays thousands of soldiers, left for dead.

It screams the steel bullets that fly,

Sowing white-cross graves where veterans lie.


It is a demon of death,

The gasp of a man's last breath.

It's the cold sound of silence,

After a final act of violence.


It is a horror boys would willingly die for,

A murderous cause politicians adore.

Call it a fight for freedom, an honourable aim,

But war's just men dying in their country's name


a note from the artist-

"I was reading about Muhammad Ali and his refusal to fight in the Vietnam war, and was inspired to write a poem about war and its glorification."


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