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"Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori."
"It is sweet and glorious
To die for one's country."
--Horace
Who knows anymore why soldiers march off to die?
Who consented that civilians join the carnage?
The dying know it is not sweet or glorious
And that your country is no longer yours.
There are no wisecracks by the likes of Willie and Joe,
Our GI heroes of the last good war pro patria.
Humor has slipped out of Uniform.
Death, civilization's devoted lover,
Does not go hungry while drones fired
Hundreds of miles away play warrior and victor
And human flesh endures as the
Burnt offering to the interests of Money and Power,
The dark deities ruling our world
Because we lack the will to dethrone them.
Tonight, as on Christmas Eves past,
The wise men ride thataway
George Salamon professed German language and literature at several East Coast colleges, served as staff reporter for the St. Louis Business Journal and Senior Editor for Defense Systems Review. He contributes regularly to the Gateway Journalism Review, Jewish Currents and TheNewVerse.News.