Author’s Note: My Muse in somber mood this morning… Wading through a host of reports on Ukraine, the fighting around Bakhmut seems to be growing in intensity, and the trench warfare is getting nastier and nastier as the weather gets colder, and yet there is a story in one of the big foreign policy journals that that there was a ceasefire on the table in April under which Russia would have withdrawn to the pre-February 24 lines but that the US and UK leadership twisted Zelenskyy’s arm and forced him to walk away… It sounds incredible but not so… And 100,000+ Ukrainian casualties later, the war grinds on.

Now Ukraine is hip deep in this madness and the country is slowly being destroyed and all the social and economic costs – around the world – are mounting…

– Arrias

War is Hell

Those who have never fought,
Should not have a say,
Who have never had a comrade die,
Should stay out of the way.

Those that talk but do not understand
What it means to go to war,
Should not command those who do,
Those who will stand in the door.

It will not be clean, it will not be neat,
The innocent will die,
And thousands will be left to ask
For Whom, For What, and Why?

If it is you must go to war,
You must be prepared to kill,
And do every single thing to win,
To win, to impose your will.

If you are prepared for that,
I suppose you might be deranged,
For in fact no one really is,
And no matter what, you will be changed.

And after … you will find it tough
To explain, or simply to tell.
You see, in truth, Billy was right,
This thing is certain, all War is Hell.

Copyright 2022 Arrias
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