The necklacing (in answer to Geoffrey Haresnape)
I saw people sending others into eternity
on that dark night
that we were on military patrol
in the black township
and there was evil, something inhuman
that had taken control of a crowd
who with their wicked grins and sneering leers
dragged seven tied men
and there was no salvation at hand
but for the guns of my men and I
and the struggling weeping victims
were pinned down, circled in a ring
with fuel been poured over them
and I heard fearful screams
and yelled at the group to stop
saw them dragging tyres nearer
lighting matches and fired
short bursts over their heads,
trying to stop the killing
and the fire roared,
a living person was aflame,
we had to save the others
and we took deadly shots at the killers
shattering the crowd
and one person was charred,
seven others were shot dead
six lay tied at our feet
shivering utterly soaked in fuel
and the stench of a fried human being
was everywhere, human blood flowed
in red little pools
and I was nauseas and started vomiting,
shivered while our military truck
and military support came to the scene.
[Reference: The Necklace by Geoffrey Haresnape.]
poem by Gert Strydom
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Related quotes
Uniforms
(3/9/12)
So many uniforms worn in this life, and inside them
You'll find your loved ones -your soul mate
Son, daughter, husband, or wife.
Firemen, policemen, nurses, and military too
They all have a job to do.
And as you look at them with pride
You thank god they're by your side.
The uniform does not make the person
But the person makes the uniform.
Because in it they pour the heart and soul
And it's there where they belong.
The firemen and women who run into a burning house
The cop who goes into the line of fire
The nurse who held their hand on you to stop the bleeding
And of course the military soldier
Who protects our country day and night
And will give up their lives in a fight.
Yet we do not stop and say:
"Thank you for all that you do
I am very proud to know you."
Their uniforms are just their shells
And at times they go thru hell.
But there is a person who never wore a uniform
But created all of them who wear it.
He is all these people rolled into one
He is "GODS SON".
He made these uniforms so that we can see their worth
And it was given to them from their birth.
So many uniforms to show what we do
But it doesn't show the inner you.
This uniform is seen only by god
It is called the human heart.
This uniform can not be replaced
by anything on this earth
For it was given by god at our birth.
We can be as beautiful or as vicious
As any animal on this earth, or as
Soft and sensitive as the most delicate flower
This is given to us from the lords powers.
Let us rejoice in what he has given
And make this life " worth living".
© L.Rams
poem by Louis Rams
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Johnny Goes To War
At the age of eighteen
just after writing his final matriculation exam,
Johnny is called up to do military service
and when the pickup on the farm
have two flat tyres
and Johnny cannot get to the station in time,
he is fetched by three broad shouldered
military policemen who initially
want to arrest him
and shove him into a waiting military pickup van.
In the army he receives food
that gives him stomach flue
and for the first week
is almost stuck to the loo
and the mash potatoes
coming from a packet as powder,
runs into everything and has no salt in it
while the Colonel, the officers
and non-commissioned officers
have a feast in their mess,
having roasted beef and chicken
and eat as if they are truly blessed
and his hair is cut just above the scull,
he’s forced into an overall,
feels and looks like a criminal
while the instructors, the officers
and commanders wear normal uniforms
and he is chased up and down,
has to run to some trees
three kilometres far and back,
to bring a leave
and every time it’s not the right one
and the passing black citizens
at the railway tracks and on the road
shake their heads
and think that white men are nuts.
Day and night the instructor
slanders and curses at him,
he is put on duty
to guard armoured cars and trucks,
forced to run with poles and truck tyres
and to be just like his fellow military men,
even his girlfriend’s love letters,
are read by the instructor to the rest of them
and he is given a rifle and taught to love it,
while the instructor makes sure
that he knows the difference
between his rifle and his gun
he is forced to sleep with it like a fiancé
while movement and fire tactics
is being drilled in,
while life bullets whistle past him
and a bit later he knows about hand grenades,
mortars and rockets
and then he is shipped out
by train, truck and helicopter
to the war on the border
to meet the enemy
who is waiting for him
and while on patrol with some Unitas
he faces Cuban armour, a huge battle tank
and fires a rocket propelled grenade
at point blank range straight at it
and the trooper next to him,
looses his head, it’s blown off
and Johnny is scared out of his wits,
wishing to be dead
but forced into another firefight instead.
When after two years of being a soldier
he gets home
Johnny is totally nuts, bomb happy
and nobody knows him
when to his mother, his girlfriend
he is is somewhat strange
while life in the town goes on
like it did before
and Johnny becomes a farmer
and trusts in the Lord,
cares for his cattle and sheep
and not one night he can sleep right through,
without having a nightmare
and the president PW Botha, his whole cabinet,
the military officers have a great life,
ignores his mothers letters,
doesn’t care about her tears,
about Johnny’s state of mind
and before long
he is called up for a military camp
and when he doesn’t appear
he is fetched by the military police
and sent back once more
to war, to killing and death.
poem by Gert Strydom
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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I grew up in a military family, and there's something about that military-style uniform, all cleaned up, a brutal control effort the military necessarily breeds.
quote by Max Cannon
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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I believe that detente was having almost the opposite effect of what was intended. What was intended was to sort of end the contest for power and to stop Soviet expansion, especially by military means and the military build-up, the military contest.
quote by Jeane Kirkpatrick
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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The Crowd Roared
The crowd roared, the lion roared, another christian faced death,
And one was as hungry as the other for another's final breath.
No tears were shed as he lay dead, no thought, no regret, no sob.
And the slaves and the lion keeper went back to do their job.
The stake was set, the fire burned, the witch screamed for her god
And the crowd of flickering faces cursed the path she trod.
But when night covered their sight they huddled round their hob
And were glad it hadn't been them who'd had to do the job.
The blade fell, the head rolled and madame murder committed,
And the crowd roared while another madame sat and knitted.
But the noise went dead when its terror bred a terror for the mob,
And none cheered too loud after that when madame did her job.
No lion roared, no fire burned, no blade flashed in the sun
But when the crowd breathed in the gas their death was as one.
Their flesh was mean when buried unseen 'neath a dark and rocky knob.
And at last a tear was shed when executioners did their job.
In court they sat their faces stone, their eyes had never known a sob
And one by one they stood and said: 'I was only doing my job.'
But the crowd saw through their law and hissed and spat and sputtered
When one person used those words another person suffered.
It's dawn again, that time again, the sun has made the day
And see again that fatal sight of wood and rope and clay.
The crowd sighed but never cried as the trapdoor life did rob
And the executioner went away well pleased with his job.
poem by Paul Anthony
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Syrian Military Attacking Killing Civilians
Syrian military
tanks aircraft are attacking
are killing civilians
with Russian
political military...
aid civilian Arab
blood flows
blood red black rose withers
those Russians
those Russians
living before frost
ice thaw
say how can you expect...
dictators
to leave
blood red black rose withers
without sowing
killing fields
with thousands
millions of rebels
exterminated
are not model...
civilians
not citizens
blood red black rose withers
plus misfits
did not conform
to official
party policy
insanity insanity...
there can be
only party
blood red black rose withers
Russian tradition slay civilians
put in ice box grave Gulag...
have they not heard
Stalin is dead...
dictatorship is dead...
martyr minds
beyond the wire noose...
blood red black rose withers
beyond the wire noose...
are already free
blood red black rose withers
do not blame Arab
dictator
for civilian deaths
in Aleppo? ? ?
without Russian Chinese
political muscle flexing
merciless
backing blood would not flow
backing blood would not flow
in black rose freedom
blood red black rose withers
poem by Terence George Craddock
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I heard an Israeli speaking on Palestinian human rights issues, an interesting guy, and he said ""There's no military solution to terrorism. If there were, Israel would be the safest place in the world. But there's no military solution.""
quote by Bradley Whitford
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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No Military for Me
No military for me,
No tanks or guns,
Or army ranks -
To hell with it all -
No military for me,
No stupid generals
Deciding who lives
Or dies -
No young recruits
Blindly following
Orders to dropp
Bombs on children
No heroes, no trenches,
No waiting wives
Or crying mothers,
Nobody to fight for me
Or my freedoms
Except myself alone -
No deaths to mourn,
No dead children,
No crippled and maimed
Bodies and wasted lives
No military for me,
I don't need any of it,
None of your fucking
Bombs, grenades
And helicopters
None of your nuclear
Weapons to explode
Up someone's ass -
No military for me -
Just keep it,
Shove it and forget it
Wrap it in your flag
And throw it out
The window -
For I'm just fine
Without it.
November 11,2006
poem by Alexander Shaumyan
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Congress Woman Gabrielle Gifford
1/15/11
Congress woman Gifford shot in the head
By all rights she should have been dead.
But apparently god has plans for her to do
So he laid his hand on her and pulled her through.
With her husband by her side, and in her
sub conscience she heard him cry.
She heard the prayers of a nation when
They heard of this devastation.
She moved a finger, then a hand
Gave a peace sign, and a thumbs up too
It seems she knew exactly what to do.
Now wouldn’t you say this is the work of god
Who is giving her a brand new start?
A lone gunmen with a gun
Shot her And most everyone.
Then a retired military man
Jumped up and grabbed his hand.
Another man grabbed him too.
At that moment he was subdued.
A little girl who was born on that
Fretful day(9/11) took a bullet and passed away.
Christina Taylor green was her name
She died so young, which is a crying shame.
So many lives have been affected that day
And through out the world, people still pray.
They pray for all the survivors and for
The ones who passed away
And there’s not much more that anyone can say.
They say that guns don’t kill
That it is man.
Then it’s time that we take a stand.
Guns can be bought in every city or town
Any where you go, it can be found.
Stop the gun dealers on the streets
And put more cops on the beat.
Teen age gangs are on the rise
We’ve got to do something
We’ve got to try.
poem by Louis Rams
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Patrolling raging neighbourhoods
Doing military patrols
in raging black neighbourhoods
at a time it felt
as if there would be peace no more
and that nothing
could end the mindless killing.
Humans necklaced with car tires,
sprinkled with gasoline
and torched alive
and the killing crowds’
inhuman laughter sent a shiver
down my spine.
Hatred shrilling madly
out of female voices
urging the killing
to go on
and the tragedy
of having to stop the slaughter
with a bullet and a gun
and graves with wreathed
pale white flowers
stretching up to the sun
made my soul to die
while I was still alive.
poem by Gert Strydom
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Privilege
We on behalf of the entire human race
Serving you this privilege notice
Stop killing stop killing stop killing
Stop killing innocent men women
And children and also animals birds trees
Stop raping them
Stop starving them.
See the candle of humanity in our hand
Ihis candle is against corrupt people
This candle is against murders invaders
This candle is against rapists and looters
This candle is against and against all acts
That are against human race and humanities.
poem by Gajanan Mishra
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We're quickly moving to the point where we will have no military bases in the Northeast, and this undermines support for the military. We are a nation of citizen soldiers.
quote by Rob Simmons
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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When The Murderers Return To Gaza
WHEN THE MURDERERS RETURN TO GAZA
When the murderers return to Gaza
There will be dancing in the streets
Guns will be fired in the air
Sweets dispersed to clamoring children
Triumphal speeches of boasting and hate
High- stepping clowns in military uniforms
A crowd screaming in happiness cries for more blood-
But back in Israel where the victims’ families are
There will be only more quiet pain
More disturbance at the betrayal and broken promises-
Their loved ones’ murderers set free
By politicians who said they never would-
Justice will not have been done
Fairness and Truth too will have been murdered-
One tortured and broken Israeli soldier will come home-
And hundreds of Palestinians well- fed and healthy
With blood on their hands
And more blood in their hearts
Will be free to try to murder again.
poem by Shalom Freedman
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The gamblers
One rainy night at a border camp
in the operational aria
I walked past a tent
and while the wind flapped open one side
a lightning bolt slammed down
into a tree near to me
sizzling with blue sparks flying
before it thundered cracking
and I saw some young soldier boys,
a group of troops
about the same age as I
sitting around a table
dressed in military vests
and brown military long pants
drinking brandy from a bottle
that they passed hand to hand
and I thought that they were probably
playing cards
or some sort of gambling game
when I heard the clicking sound
of the cylinder of a revolver being spun
and a dull click in an empty chamber
and knew which game was on
and walking right in
I took the gun from the next one
after it had again been spun
aimed it at the ground
next to the entrance and pulled the trigger
and the gun went off
with a bullet kicking up wet sand
near to the group of us.
Sheer terror had brought soberness
to the group
and those men were silent
with their eyes on my officer’s pips
and I took the revolver
and first thought about arresting
the lot of them but left them
to be sorted out by a sergeant
who followed me in
after admonishing them
with a very stern warning.
The very next day we went into action
were taken out
in some choppers
right into battle
and at the dropp zone
two rockets flew over my head
just after the last helicopter had lifted off
and the game was still on
for the brave young men
who accompanied me,
Russian roulette
with a bullet through the head
from a AK-47
or living on instead
from missed enemy shots.
[Reference: The gamblers by Anthony Delius.]
poem by Gert Strydom
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There is no reason for anyone in the country, for anyone except a police officer or a military person, to buy, to own, to have, to use, a handgun. The only way to control handguns use in this country is to prohibit the guns. And the only way to do that is to change the Constitution.
quote by Michael Gartner
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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This experience actually means the very opposite: the largest military power was unable to stop such a sensitive attack and will be unable to rule out such a possibility in the future. Precisely this is the background to the United States' military interventions.
quote by Ulrich Beck
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Even military ministers have no more than a certain amount of control. It is customary that they have the right and the power to participate, from a political and military point of view, in the planning of actual operations.
quote by Hideki Tojo
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Military Man
The fightings over now
Theres nowhere left to run
My ammunitions out
Id better put down my gun
And as I face this life of fear
Id better keep my conscience clear
Inside my mind Im out of it
And I aint never coming back
Chorus:
So dont come running here to find me
cos Im a military man
And as I spin this wheel of fortune
In my military world
Im a military man
The architects of time
Are calling me
But I dont believe it
Necessarily
And as I face this life of fear
Break the chains
That bind me here
Inside my head Im out of it
But Im still never coming back
Chorus
Im a military man
Just a military man yes I am
song performed by by Asia
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Rwandan Elegy
Rwandan Elegy
The foul stench of burning flesh permeates the air,
Rotten, putrefying bodies lie in the baking sun,
Bright crimson death everywhere,
Frightened masses on the run
Wide-eyed terror on the prowl,
Africa rent asunder,
Can be seen Death’s scowl,
Sheer madness in Rwanda
Frenzied killing unabated,
A fevered orgy of blood,
Hate and bloodlust not sated,
A vile and incessant flood
Machete’s a-glint in the firelight,
Dark night knows no end,
Rampant death beneath stars bright,
The victims’ souls ascend
Sculpted in lifeless repose,
Torn bodies and silent screams,
The legion of dead in abject throes,
Naught can ever the killers redeem
And, where must be asked, was the World?
When they were needed the most,
Why were their actions not most bold?
Why was saving lives not topmost?
And today, the land lies sullied in shame,
The rabid killers remain unbowed,
The dark pall of hate still silently aflame,
And beyond, a menacing cloud
But perhaps, as if from the ashes of the dead,
Rwanda can rise once more,
To assuage the blood, terror and dread,
And embrace “Peace” forevermore!
poem by Ross DixPeek
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Underground Killers
They kill for a reason
They'll strike anyone
Doesn't matter how old or young
Pay 'em big cash, they'll give 'em a slash
Explain how it should be done
A shot in the head
The man cut in half
Tortured 'till death
You'll never see him back
CHORUS
Underground killers
They are everywhere
Killing for money
They don't care
Leaving their victims covered with blood
Underground killers
Will make a mess
Whose killing plans have been set
Murdering their victims without mercy
They promise to make it worse
Tell 'em their next mission
And they'll give 'em death
Burn him alive
A high voltage jolt
A stab in the back
They promise you'll see him dead
Slay the victim to death
Dead bodies everywhere
Brutality is their authority
Killers are not afraid of death
CHORUS
Underground killers
They are everywhere
Killing for money
They don't care
Leaving their victims covered with blood
Underground killers
Will make a mess
Whose killing plans have been set
Murdering their victims without mercy
They promise to make it worse
More massacre for the long future generation
Their customers are the only police source of information
You've paid 'em in full
For the dirty job they've done
Now you must die
Like the other ones
song performed by by Incubus
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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