An Idle Singing

 

“An idle singer for an empty day”
Sure!  But also dizzy from
Watching movies of war and
Differences between the one
That sent me to one and the
Current mechanized strangeness
Of Middle-Eastern combat.

“Would I still have gone?” gave me
A headache – had I stayed I could
Imagine Vietnam as a Sergeant
But not loaded with so much
Gear I needed a Humvee to haul
Me to the battleground.  Was I
Conditioned for a few wars only?

And why was Ezra Pound so astute
About poetry and so inept
Politically, praising Mussolini,
Adolph Hitler and himself above
All to those who would listen and did
In dwindling numbers till he died,
Or was he merely crazy as many believe?

The mountain through my window
Is turning green as it does this time
Each year.  Susan was up late listening   
To her sister while I watched and
Listened to strange songs sung in
Humvees by Marines who occasionally
Stopped to shoot large numbers of Iraqis.