In Honor of the End of the Don't Ask Don't Tell Policy

An offering from POEMS FROM THE RIVER, a collection of my poetry that will soon be released.

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We War

War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things.

The decayed and degraded state

of moral and patriotic feeling

which thinks that nothing is worth war

is much worse.

The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight,

nothing which is more important than his own personal safety,

is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free

unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself.

~ John Stuart Mills

We war, don't we

We warriors

We worriers for the world

You, Red Death Warrior

You mobilized

You sanitized

Purified to perform ancient rights of battles

And to stake patriot claims of fragile freedom

In hearts alien, hearts eternal,

Hearts ignorant of all you know

You know

You know

You know, noble warrior,

While you wander through the heaven of Hell

Raking the shit scattered pieces

Of bitter and broken promises

Into neat, heaping piles made ready

For the devil's dusty full bin,

I, Warrior of The Forgotten Peace

Arming my chair of flaccid command

Long for the glory fight that I never had

The fight I will never know

The fight you will never forget

You know

You know

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I would like to congratulate and thank all who courageously sacrificed their identities, and in some cases, their lives, in order to proudly and honorably serve their nation while Don't Ask Don't Tell was national policy.