The Philosophy of War

"Men die by the hundred thousand" Just like that, with one command As if we're discussing grains of rice, or sand As though there's no need to expand When in truth every one felled Can mean more than The cause and the effect And the circumstance and the consequence And the situation and the solution Of war itself But that's not War... For there is no nobility Or elegance or beauty Of any kind That any mind Can fathom Or any conscience Can stem But that's not War... They die for honor. They sacrifice for valor. They die for country Fall like sentry Which makes it alright Because apparently Heaven knows their plight And therefore justifies their fight But that's not true, And that's not War... Because there's no decency And there's no excellency In this kind of death. For even Death himself has found That he flinches at the sound Of the blood splattered ground Shaking around him But that's not War... It's gotta be money then That's gotta be the reason It's gotta be the definition Of what war's all about. Maybe it's the dying children Maybe that's what they call treason Nope. THEY FIGHT FOR PASSION! FOR LOVE! FOR PRESERVATION OF RIGHTS! FOR ANTI- TERRORISM! FOR WORLD PEACE! FOR SOMETHING RIGHT? Nope. For you can't label This grotesque industry Because it's impossible To apply it with morality Because war Isn't deep With massive gore It's shallow and steep Because war in itself is the greatest example of human extravagance put to the test and pushed to the outer limits of vanity where it can ironically pretend that it stands for anything more than what it is. And like all of the greatest and most celestial human epiphanies, it comes without justice and reason. Because once we've stooped down to the point where we can tear each other apart... nothing really exists Politics fades Justice waves At your facade And criminals And lunatics And judges And presidents And doctors And lawyers And corporations And reporters And heaven And hell... They laugh at this charade. Tricked you again. Because That's not War. No. War is when a homeless man Dies of hunger without a plan Because justice has put a ban On letting him simply take what he can To live. This is War.