The Dance of Dissonance

The all out war quest is in very few’s interest

Yet for our leaders it seems the main aim

All being forced into this costly game

Even the generals call, it’s very bad overall

Do we want an activity that follows no logic?

Then the business of conflict is surely most tragic

As military industries roar, their factories smoke more

They smoke like the smoker unaware of its harms

Engulfed in flames, we must sound the alarms

Gracious construction waltzes with its dance partner destruction

With so much time spent building cities brick by brick

They are then ready to be torn down so quick

We must banish our fears, and be open to any helpful ideas

For humans to progress we must let our rational thinking prevail

And understand the devil is always in the detail

How can we move forward sincerely, with no torch to see clearly?

This is the biggest malfunction of the mind

The way every human willfully keeps themself blind

Dancing with Django, it takes two to tango

Conflict feeds from misunderstanding each other

Imagine what we could achieve trusting each as our brother

Many dances are swirled in this world

But of course the boogie with the least of innocence

Is the popular dance of cognitive dissonance

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What Still Stands?

After the war, what still stands?

Is it the will to fight another war, or to preserve our motherlands?

Is it any hopes for the future, or none at all?

Is it a fairer society, or civilization’s fall?

Will it be a problem solved, sorted, done?

Or absolutely no solution, zero, none?

What will remain after all missiles are launched?

Will it be ecosystems, all broken and haunched?

What will be left of our cultures when conflicts finally cease?

Will there be any love left, or a world with any peace?

When military aims are met, what should we expect?

Will the feelings among humanity retain any respect?

When the enemy has been punished, do you think they will stop?

Or will replacements rise to continue the op?

When the tanks have ran their course, how will we live?

Will there be a soul at all on Earth with any love left to give?

When the funerals of the innocent are done, should we expect any more?

Or should we just expect a perpetuation of blood and gore?

When half your family’s gone is there anything left to defend?

Do these conflicts ever actually offer any means to an end?

When all targets are destroyed will there be any houses left?

Or just most people’s dignity, a poor victim of theft?

When the victories come will our world actually be any safer?

Or will it be just another piece of grim history to go down on paper?

After battles are won, what will remain?

Only the chance to do it all over again?

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Wanderers of War

No home, state, or place to belong

These wanderers are the first forgotten

Displaced from not doing any wrong

This war not from them was begotten

As they travel far and wide

They need nothing but help

Victims of war’s grim tide

With no words but a yelp

Forced to be a non-combatant nomad

Through no fault of their own

All they feel is sad

As they wade across the war zone

Fleeing intolerable situations

With lives turned upside down

Knocking on the doors of other nations

Behind every brave smile is a frown

Once living lives of peace

The broken families of war

With no time left on their lease

Their only choice to be poor

Left with nothing but their bravery

To start their lives from scratch

Now they must battle slavery

As they close the boat’s hatch

Their life savings not the only things at risk

Their very lives on a knife edge

As the sea breeze gets more brisk

To foreign governments they must pledge

To familiarity and safety they say their goodbyes

Hostility and xenophobia now they must welcome

Praying to god as they look up to the skies

They ask “how did we deserve this outcome?”

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The Harms Trade

How can an industry so advanced be so backwards?

How can a sector so harmful be moving so forwards?

Imagine a business that’s so up for a fight

When blood is spilled more profits are in sight

Spend a million on shells and get 20% off

Perhaps chemical weapons for a deadly cough?

Our latest bunker busters, add them to kart!

Why even wait for WW3 to start?

Buy two tanks and get one free

There’s nothing like a good killing spree!

Buy six fighter jets for the price of five

When this sale ends, will anyone still be alive?

Purchase a rifle and we’ll give you free rounds

Despite us uncertain whether we have any grounds

Want an atrocity? Speak to our sales team

We bring to life every tyrant’s daydream!

While innocent lives grow more and more hard

We’re giving your king a loyalty card

While most businesses exist to solve a problem

This one just perpetuates an evil system

Can you believe there are stocks and shares

That represent death instead of repairs

A trade where trillions of dollars are spent

In which thousands are killed without our consent

Understand that those who profit from conflict

Will want to turn a peacemaker into a convict

To dissolve only ours might put us in danger

To dissolve ALL would turn war to a stranger

What will the world look like during this trade boom?

The more market growth, the closer to doom?

Facilitating acts of aggression disguised as defence

While embassies across the world grow more and more tense

While regulators ponder who they should arm

Presidents claim they won’t do any harm

A perfect example of the worst parts of our nature

For this is the capital that should not see any venture

How ludicrous is it you cannot sell guns to children

All the while our governments can buy bombs to kill them

How many profits are we willing to accept?

How much more death before we intercept?

For this trade has existed since the dawn of time

In this business murder is not seen as a crime

Some industries from history perish from modernisation

Is it now the arms trade’s time for deindustrialization?