Patriot
POETRY FORMAT, 11 Nov 2013
Tom Greening – TRANSCEND Media Service
I never guessed that my friend Howard
would turn out to be a coward.
Both of us were raised to fight
whether we were wrong or right.
Mostly we were right, we knew,
and fighting is what brave men do.
“I don’t trust commies,” he once said,
“except the ones I’m sure are dead.”
Thus it was a big surprise
when I came to realize
that Howard had begun to doubt
and wasn’t always sure about
the verities that we were taught
regarding wars our country fought.
He had always served our cause,
and never took time out to pause
and ask himself if someday peace
would ever make the killing cease.
So what turned Howard’s head around—
how can it be that he has found
some fault with what we both fought for
and lost his shining faith in war?
I do not know and will not ask—
I’ll carry out my patriot’s task.
If he won’t fight at least I will.
I’ll find more enemies to kill,
and rid the world of all that’s bad.
The only thing that makes me sad,
the part that I’ll find hard to do,
is killing off the Howards too.
___________________________
Tom Greening: “I engage in five professional activities:
Faculty Member at Saybrook University
Private Practice of Psychotherapy
Clinical Professor of Psychology, UCLA
International Editor of the Journal of Humanistic Psychology
Writing (Poetry).”
www.tomgreening.com
This article originally appeared on Transcend Media Service (TMS) on 11 Nov 2013.
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