Don't look, Don't See (an original poem by Bob Silverberg)

[unhappycamper]

The following poem was written by Bob Silverberg. Mr. Silverberg is a U.S. Navy veteran of WW II, and a member of the Cape Cod chapter of Veterans for Peace. Bob was kind enough to give me permission to post this original poem on DU.

Don't look, Don't See

Behind your warlike repartee, Mr. Bush
You don't look, and you don't see - Mr. Bush
For as you plot there with your claque
Battle actions in Iraq
Mean one more amputee, Mr. Bush

Stop to see what war has brought, Mr. Bush
800 dead - and more for naught, Mr. Bush
They're not just numbers... they have names -
Jeff, and Michael, Rachel, James - *
Do you give them any thought, Mr.Bush?

And the dead are all so young, Mr. Bush
Those lives gone for reasons wrong, Mr. Bush
Boys and girls still in their teens
Victims of your war's routines...
Their songs of life will stay unsung... Mr. Bush

While rockets fire, and copters crash, Mr. Bush
You fly to luncheons, raising cash, Mr. Bush
And every day another dies...
Yet you fault those who criticize.
How can you dare to be so brash, Mr. Bush?

Soldiers shot at, blown up, burned, Mr. Bush
Wearing uniforms THEY have earned, Mr. Bush
And just in case you're keeping score
No one ever wins in war.
A lesson you have spurned, Mr. Bush

Keep the wounded out of sight, Mr. Bush
Fly the caskets back at night, Mr. Bush
How many more will come home maimed?
Why in this hell aren't you ashamed
Of the waste and horror in their plight, Mr. Bush?

One last thought before you sleep, Mr. Bush
For as you sow, so shall you reap, Mr. Bush

(*Actual names: Jeffrey Braun, dead at 19. Michael Mihalakis, dead at 18. Rachel Bosveld, dead at 19. James Lambert, dead at 22.)



I saw Bob at a Cape Codders for Peace and Justice forum about Iraq on 7.28.2005. He was magnificent.

Here's a link to the original DU thread:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=4226854