One man sits in his ivory tower

Yells let us now go to war

He wants to show he has power

But he won’t go out to explore

The devastation and carnage

Brought to others lives

He will never be thought of as a sage

But rather he who sent youth to battle

Your delicate hands will never engage

As lives perish while you merely prattle

What is to be gained by this word victory

Does the death toll equal your reason

What proposed injustice warrants insanity

Your ivory tower stands when bombs are done

What’s your gain when the decimation’s through

Was it personal betterment or for humanity

All the bones of war are from a vanquished few

You throw some accolades to appease their family

The true cost can’t be measured in gold or pride

Can’t be expressed in simple numbers of the lost

But it can be seen in the eyes who do their best to hide

Their loss, their fear, their pain and suffering, personal cost

The decision maker’s plotting what’s next from the ivory tower

What else can he propose that should be fixed that’s wrong

Other objections to his view that need correcting with his power

How long was it quiet before we heard yet another protest song

Admirable chants and mantras all, he can hear, but doesn’t listen

Voices will scream and marchers will stomp till the earth rumbles

So, he can feel the voices raised for the dead and know where they’ve been

The warlord is smug in his ivory tower, but a day will come when it all crumbles