Simon Widdop

For Peace & For Pride

Tuesday 19th July 2016 11:12 am

On two summer days
in 1945
199,000
men
women
children
were casualties of Hell itself embodied on Earth
the pride of a foreign power
raised cities to ashes
scorched shadows into the soil
all
for peace

Between October 1962
and November 1983
the World faced exinction
day to day
minute to minute
all for the sake of
the pride of two foreign powers

On July 18th 2016
an unelected Prime Minister declared
she would willingly eradicate
100,000 souls
for peace
the man who wants
to dismantle the apocalypse
branded
monster

CND punk poetry punk political political poem political poetry punk poem Nuclear nuclear disarmament peace

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The Caveman ►

Comments

Simon Widdop

Sun 31st Jul 2016 13:31

Thank you for the responses on this poem. Obviously, I'm fortunate to not have lived through both the bombings and the Cold War era, more grown up in the shadow so I can look at what's come before and where we could end up going.

John Coopey

Sun 24th Jul 2016 20:16

...though the Balance of Terror does seem to have worked for 60 years.

M.C. Newberry

Tue 19th Jul 2016 12:36

The mindsets are worth evoking.
In1945, the Japanese warlords, presiding over a brutal
expansionist regime, were all for fighting to the last man
(and woman presumably), with the prospect of hundreds
of thousands of Allied lives being lost to achieve final
victory. Even after the first bomb fell, they still refused
to accept that the world had changed irrevocably.
The Cuban crisis - and I was a scared 19 year old at the
time - was two major world powers with ideologies
in opposition. Fortunately, the Russian leader Kruschev,
had been in combat in WW2 and knew about war. His
decision to turn his missile-carrying ships around was the
result of that experience and we all know how communism has declined globally, with only the absurd
North Korean leadership holding on by whatever means.
As for the present day - a great American president of
the past advised "Speak softly and carry a big stick".
As Churchill observed: "You cannot hope to appease the crocodile". Work for peace and be prepared for war
seems eminently sensible in human affairs.

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