How can we remember when none of us was there?
At best we stand in silence and contemplate the dead;
At some point though, our minds drift like as not elsewhere –
These days a minute, perhaps two, can seem like hours
Not to check mobile phones for news we might have missed,
A text from a friend, or the latest football scores.
School kids might know that Dulce et decorum est
Is not ice cream, but gas – GAS?? Is that your biggest threat?
Aren't nuclear missiles or cluster bombs now the story,
Or napalm, or even a hijacked passenger jet
Crashed into a tower block pro deo mori?
We're no further forward, let's not try to pretend –
The war to start all wars is yet to reach an end.