we are angels and demons
victims and villains
warlords and peacekeepers –
we have been all of it
incarnation after incarnation –
playing out the game of life –
No need of UN peacekeepers in DRCongo
As they seemed to fail their mission
after some decades.
Many Congolese accused the UN militaries
to support the rebel troops in many part of Southern , Nothern Kivu and Ituri provinces.
Few days back ,
some civilians marched peacefully,
while claiming the depart of UN peacekeepers
as they were caught many times supplying munissions
to some rebels.
It happened many times for the rebels to hide
in UN military bases when they were ambushed
by the Congolese national defence forces.
The people who marched were shot by four complice militaries who refused to point the commander
who gave them orders to shoot on civilians
who claimed their rights.
It caused a bed tension in the entire country for some days.
The government officials decided for the swift of UN peacekeepers in the entire country to please people
who are tired of them from twenty six years
in that useless UN peace mission.
September 22/2023
Time marches on but the story doesn't change.
Innocent lives being taken by a person whose deranged..
Last weekend in Pa. it was our state police, one is still
critical, and the other is now deceased..
The unstable shooter is also now gone.
Will this ever stop? What keeps going so wrong?
This tragic story truly rings home for me.
I had a person with mental health struggles in my family.
Psychiatrists rely on the pharmaceutical industry and
prescribe new medications that alter patients' brain chemistry.
Family members are often leery to commit, because our mental
hospitals discharge the patient still unfit, and they are left to
deal with the brunt of it.
At home, these families struggle to keep things in control.
Many times that stress alone will take a major toll.
How many more peacekeepers?
How many more innocent lives is our society willing to sacrifice?
"We are the Dead. Short days ago.
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow.
Loved and were loved, and now we lie.
In Flanders fields. "
Quote By _ John McCrae (Flanders Fields)
on the eleventh month, on the eleventh day, at the eleventh hour
under a blue hazy sky in my city
we honored those who answered the call and died
for the peace and freedom that we enjoy today
we have a beautiful war monument and statue
and a tomb of the unknown soldier
that we treasure everyday not just on November eleventh
all the wars are engraved in stone
World War I, World War II, The Korean War, Afghanistan
and it honors the peacekeepers who lost their life's also
the sound of the bands, the parade of branches of the military
the 21-gun salute, and the jet fly over, and the choir singing
the pipers and trumpet, breaks the silence of those standing tall
and when it is over everyone removes their poppies
and places them on the tomb of the unknown soldier
like red tears cascading
____________________
November 11, 2022
Submitted to the contest, 2022 Poetry Marathon, Mile 25
sponsor, Mark Toney
clad in black berets and boots
all camouflaged with heavy guns
their armoured jeeps in Indian file
like obedient dogs they march along
faces pale from the burning sun
peasants tender, weak and poor
gaze helpless at the peacekeepers:
what begets this act of war?
give them a chance to make their bread
lend them a voice to sing their song
show them love, let them dream
that’s how peacekeeping is done!
The snow is falling, falling on Remembrance Day,
and I cannot help recall and remember my brother;
now, his beautiful name is engraved in a stone gray,
he was more than a brother but a friend like no other.
He left only wanting to keep Canadian peace,
those who think peacekeepers don't die are wrong;
until my last breath I keep in my heart a piece,
of him- and my love for a soldier brave and strong.
___________________________________________
November 9, 2020 repost from- November 10, 2019
Poetry/Verse/'A Soldier Brave and Strong'
Copyright Protected, ID 11-1303-387-10
all Rights Reserved, 2019, Constance L France
WE STILL REMEMBER an historic event
Brian Strand, Blog Challenge, November 9, 2020
In rows and rows
of quietus and grey,
are buried the brave
and I recall the day.
When brother returned
and I fell to pray,
gone my little brother
now, in earth he lay.
He went to fight a war
to keep it far away,
he was a peacekeeper
now, beneath a rose bouquet.
__________________________
January 22, 2020
Poetry/Couplet/A Peacekeepers War
Copyright Protected, 20-1218-658-03
All Rights Reserved, 2020, Constance La France
Written for FTI - War
Brian Strand
Podium Place One
O, Canada we sing, standing tall with pride as one,
for our land of natural beauty, mountains, trees and lakes;
we are a peaceful country of many races and religions,
we are all immigrants as our ancestors came by boat from across the ocean.
I am so proud that we are the peacekeepers of war torn countries,
our history is vast and fascinating and we have come a long way;
I love this country from the open-spaces to the clean water,
for the diversity of people, a mix of all nationalities living as one.
Canada is a country with freedom of speech, thoughts and belief,
and just one tiny thing to boast about please, we invented hockey;
I am so proud and realize that I am lucky to have been born in Canada,
so proudly, I stand to sing, O, Canada strong and loud.
______________________________________
Added after Judging January 20, 2020
Written, December 23, 2019
Poetry/Ode/We Are the Peacekeepers
Copyright Protected, ID 19-1211-133-02
All Rights Reserved. Written under Pseudonym.
Written for the contest, Whitman-Inspired Uplifting
sponsor, Carolyn Devonshire
First Place
The snow is falling, falling on Remembrance Day,
and I cannot help recall and remember my brother;
now, his beautiful name is engraved in a stone gray,
he was more than a brother but a friend like no other.
He left only wanting to keep Canadian peace,
those who think peacekeepers don't die are wrong;
until my last breath I keep in my heart a piece,
of him- and my love for a soldier brave and strong.
__________________________
November 10, 2019
Poetry/Rhyme/A Soldier Brave and Strong
Copyright Protected, ID 19-1197-394-02
All Rights Reserved. Written under Pseudonym.
Written for the Premiere contest, Give Me 8 Lines of Rhyme
sponsor, Tania Kitchin
Sixth Place
On Remembrance Day . . . I lay poppies at his grave, a lonely grave among
many, the military grave of my brother. He had been a beautiful baby and
sweet little boy, oh, where did the years go- soon he was a young man; and
telling us he wanted to be a peacekeeper for Canada, and with a smile he left
on a mission to a far away distant land and a distant war. We watched scenes
of bombing and fighting and terrorists, father would say "don't worry he's a
peacekeeper." As time rolled on we accepted that was his dream, but anyone
who says peacekeepers don't die is wrong. I will never ever forget the day he
came home to us, in a box- a hero who only had peace for the world; and I will
forever be doing- an offering of poppies for this brave young man . . .
rows of white head stones
where poppies sway in the breeze-
miles of the brave dead
______________________________
April 25, 2019
Poetry/Haibun/An Offering of Poppies
Copyright Protected, ID 19-1137-528-02
All Rights Reserved. Written under Pseudonym.
Written for the contest Pick a Title, Vol. 4
sponsor, Edward Ibeh, Title Chosen #1, An Offering Of Poppies
Second Place
My brother was a real beautiful baby
and the sweetest little brother a sister could have.
He wanted to be a peacekeeper- thats what Canada is famous for,
so he enlisted and oh gosh, he did look handsome . . .
then, he left on a peacekeeping mission.
It was to a country I did not know
far away, a foreign land and a foreign war.
We watched the television at the horrific scenes of bombing- fighting,
father would tell us don't worry he's a peacekeeper . . .
as time rolled on and we accepted his dream.
Those images of roadside bombs scared me
those news cast reports of fighting breaking out all over,
of terror groups who have no value for life- theirs or anothers.
Anyone who says peacekeepers don't die is wrong . . .
I often kneel at my brothers military grave.
And lay red roses for that sweet little boy
who died a hero with dreams of peace in the world.
_______________________
May 24, 2017
Verse/A War Far Away
Copyright Protected, ID 904137
Written for the contest, Foreign War
Sponsor, Lewis Raynes
Ninth Place
SARAJEVO the peacekeepers
Tomorrow there won't come a morning bright
filled with a hope that peace has come at last
and smiling girls can't dance out of a night
that's been too dark and too long in the past;
from out of troubled dreams, peacekeepers dare
to bring an end to hates' eternity
not knowing it is roots that brought it there
they stumble in the cold and misery,
they'd surely dance with all the girls they find
except their worlds are separated by
the ways that time's erased from their own mind
and so they scratch their heads, and wonder why;
an understanding never comes around
and so they leave it all the way it's found.
© Ron Arbuthnot
Soldiers
Protectors, peacekeepers, sometimes quiet, always strong
Fighting for the cause, the promise, democracy, the freedom for all
Paying with life and limbs, saving broken people
But ever more standing tall, standing strong
Soldiers for our past, present and future, in spirit and combat
Defending with God’s thunder and strength
Giving it all, everything of you, sacrificing time with family
Fighting, protecting a foreign land,
full of enemies, catastrophes
No matter what always taking a stand
Fortifying the right to live safe and free
Over here and across the sea
Sacrifices of great men and women
So we can do the simplest things
You give it all, standing tall, in a blazing sun
Tropical lands and events of nature
In times of peace, in times of unrest
You are there for us, for them answering the call
Instinctively, brave men and women giving your all
Zimbabwe we hear your country screaming
We're powerless to help you you're at the mercy of a party thats murderous and
scheming
Robert Mugabe and his thugs the Zanu PF
They deny you free elections instead they dole out death
The world see's your pain but hears only one mans voice
Your human rights violated he's taken away your freedom of choice
The United Nation's and the peacekeepers won't intercede in this mess
If it was me that was in power and the balance i could redress
It would'nt take an army
6 men
3 letters
S.A.S
Some of them had noted for long,
bubble afflictions,
they had seen the reasons and symptoms,
they proclaimed they were peacekeepers,
to humanity,
and wanted everybody,
to act with equaninimity,
so each time he had his own bubble,
which was unmanageable and sore,
he went ahead to search,
for bubble afflicted others,
and pretended to give them a sharp probing bore,
ostensibly to burst their bubble,
and free them of affliction,
In the process he let his own be as it was,
and had earned more,
and had grown to such a bubble,
that nobody dared to look at it,
not to talk about reducing it to shambles.
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