Another Loss

Well, here we are. It's four and a half decades later,
And another war which shouldn't have been fought
Has ended badly. Our side lost. Our sad Potemkin
Army of natives, thousands trained to mouth
Cliches and fight like hell once we had gone,
Threw down their guns and ran away, and all
The Quislings we'd employed are huddling, terrified,
Inside of landing zones with hopes of being flown
Away before they lose their heads. At home,
A circle's formed, and Ivy Leaguers shout and point
Their fingers. Someone has to take the blame
For failing at an undertaking any fool could see
Could not succeed. Around the principals, the press.
They're clueless, as they always are, yet keen
To claim an audience (and possibly a raise in pay)
By braying, “Someone lost the war,” but, after
Twenty years of this one, forty-five years from
The last, their viewers can no longer care.
They simply turn away.



Poetry by Lawrence Beck The PoetBay support member heart!
Read 27 times
Written on 2021-08-22 at 23:29

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