None of them are especially good, but Nicholas Kristof wrote a column with some poetry inspired by the war in Iraq. War does occasionally breed good verse; what's lacking in most of these, it seems, is education. WWI poets, for example, were often gentlemen. They didn't just write about circumstances, or conflicting emotions, or the horror, but brought to their work a sharp ability to make nuanced commentary, instead of rote overpolitical spew. Below is the only one I found worth the few minutes it takes to read.
Knock the dust off your boots, my boy,
It's time to ride again.
The frontier has gone restless now
And we must crush this rebellion. . . .
These people understand only violence,
So let's give it to 'em now.
We'll ride 'em down like Cherokee;
We'll trample 'em like Pueblo.
These savages are ruthless;
They understand no law.
So we'll pick up our Peacemakers,
And shoot 'em like Choctaw. . . .
Rally round the flag, my boy,
And grab your rifle, too.
The Red Man's turned Brown, my boy,
And there's a lot of peacemaking to do.
Compare that to something even so high school as Dulce et Decorum Est...it seems gentlemen no longer go a-warring in search of the Muse.
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