The Ravages of Time

For five and twenty years
Has this battle ever raged,
Yet still is found no end in sight –
And even worse is found no wish to end.
All 'round me now the bodies lie,
Despoiled and defiled,
Encrusted now in pools
Of sweet, dried vermilion
Whilst busily being attended to
By swarms of pernicious vultures,
So hungrily, savagely, tirelessly relentless
In their quest for food.

And I, trampling through these
Ravaged, war-torn nations,
Have come across countryside after countryside
Awash in the angry blood of mighty warriors
Dying for a cause to fight.
And of poor, simple townsfolk
Who dared fight for a cause to die.

And everywhere, bloodied, lifeless and forgotten- the children.
The tiny...
         Innocent...
                  Fragile...
                          Soulful...
                                  Children.
Savagely butchered for getting in the way
Of a war nobody wanted,
And interfering with this brutal, necessary apocalypse.
Becomes then necessary to kill all, so as to kill no more...
And then necessary to die for all, so as to die no more.
Oh the children...
Oh the woe-begotten children!
To God be their salvation,
And from God may we our mercy obtain!
Amen!