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."