Liquid War

““Wrath” goddess sing”…

This unprecedented time has a familiar ring

War born of human pride

Humanity, step aside

One man’s feelings of humiliation

Brings destruction to a free nation

This is anger we have seen before

Firstly on that far off Aegean shore

Where power was the ancient lore 

And grief at loss swept all before

When the only means to an end was war 

And when that failed we called for more

Till all we had was blood and gore

No wooden horse standing at the gate

Will this time seal a people’s fate

But that is how we must begin

You see we let the enemy in

We welcomed him with open arms

No one sounding the alarms

When we became dependent on his oil

Forgave crimes from which we should recoil

His anger met our greed

And for that sin Ukraine must bleed

Was ever blessing such a curse

An oil tanker became a hearse

30 pieces of silver in someone’s purse

Seven decades of progress in reverse

The tsar sits at one end

At the other, either enemy or friend,

Of a long table in a marbled hall

No other signs of life at all

Things are not as they appear

He can’t let others get too near

Sending a message loud and clear

Not of power but of fear

Lest the truth he will hear

Two million refugees have fled this war

And we will soon see two million more

And if each refugee sheds a thousand tears

It won’t be enough to drown the fears

Of one mother as she holds her child

The best she can hope, to be exiled

To reach the border safe and sound,

Walk across, safe on foreign ground

If those tears from people’s eyes

Were the world crying from the skies

We’d see a veritable Noah’s flood

Turning the soil into mud

Thinking he would posses the soil

Instead he sees his tanks in endless toil

Halted by the mud for which they did not prepare

Russian soldiers desert facing despair

While we take a moment to give thanks

For tractors towing soviet tanks

Like Owens’ beggars each under a sack

Invading troops yearn to turn back

Knowing they face only defeat or death

Far from home they will take their last breath

Meanwhile the man who sent them there

Many just kids without a care

Sits still in his sterile cave

Believing he is somehow brave

Looks to China to help, to save

Him from this self dug grave

This is not a place where truth resides

But where a tyrant alone decides

Which lie today will serve him best

Which demonstrator to arrest

Demanding everyone yield to his request

In this futile war against the West.

Like all wars blood takes centre stage

The measure of this one man’s rage

And another who was forced war to wage

Standing firm against this vile rampage

This was his war of choice

The blood is that of those who have no voice

Children, the old, mothers to be

There’s no safe place, no guarantee

The innocent huddle then in fright

Not knowing if they will survive this night

For he who values other life so cheap

He has murdered sleep

And I imagine him in that bright hall

Never leaving to sleep at all

Those lights always shine so bright

No off switch in sight

No shadow where someone might hide

No possible rest, always wide-eyed

And though this space no respite will allow

There’s never a spot of sweat upon his brow

His adversary knows no such control

Saving his people his only goal

A messy, sweaty, complex task

That history just had to ask

Of him who seemed so ill prepared

Surely he would run away scared.

That is what the tyrant and the world believed

Before he launched this war so ill conceived

So the puppeteer took on the pantomime

Sure that he would win this time

But this man who won dancing with the stars

Wears with honor his battle scars

Leading his foe on a macabre dance

Knowing he already regrets he took the chance. 

To invade Ukraine,  now faces defeat

His pride not allowing him to retreat

All he can do is lay all to waste

Now known worldwide as a disgrace 

Wanting his empire to increase

“I’ll create a desert and call it peace”

As the tyrant, angry at being exposed 

Not expecting to be opposed

Shamed by the contrast of their humanity

To his repeated cruel brutality

He doubles down without remorse 

Ever onward not changing course

This leopard cannot change his spots 

While the brave resistance ties his force in knots. 

And he must die that freedom might live

He’s earned our pity but we will never forgive.