A Cornishman’s view of war
We wring our hands at the horrors of war but surely history tells us that warfare is a part of mankind’s psyche – there is an ever-present inevitability of conflict.
As conscripts or volunteers, our Cornish “Tommies” took up their guns but sad to say their names joined those carved in granite.
Perhaps, they too, dreamt of making the world a better place.
For young Tommy Tremaine, it all happened again
And again, and again, and again, and again.
No Refuge – Just Refugees
Europe at war again
So sing out loud your loyal refrain
We are right and they are wrong
Join our justifying patriotic song
Forget the hunger, death and pain
Children in torment, parents insane
It won’t last, it can’t be long
To return the people where they belong
Smart bombs and smarter missiles
Nights spent in terror – no time for smiles
Waiting for death or massive destruction
Sent by a laser computer instruction
What do we care of this foreign place though?
Where it is – do we even know?
Yet millions are spent on weapons of war
And never a penny to care for the poor
All will be losers but yet no winners
All combatants, equal sinners
Yet what if in nineteen thirty-nine
We’d let Hitler step over the line?
“Peace in our time” – Chamberlain lied.
Hundreds of thousands – innocents – died
So that the world could live without fear
In vain alas – another death wish is here…
Truro born and educated Alan Murton returned to Cornwall in 1994 with Writing as a key aim in early retirement after a course with Open College of the Arts with Cornish poet Philip Gross as his mentor. He sent some of his writing to Cornwall Today and was soon a regular in its pages until the West Briton took it over. He joined Truro Creative Writers in 1995 and worked with them, for 20 years as Chairman/Secretary.
Apart from competing in Old Cornwall Society competitions he wrote for two subscription magazines and has been published nationally as well as locally.
