This poem was rendered to meet today’s dVerse challenge offered by Paeansunplugged from Delhi. We are to write about the good and evil in mere mortals, the good in evil and/or the evil in good. For me, at no time is that enigma more profound than in times of war and battle.
Conundrum War
One story I’ve never told,
a confession…
if evil were evil enough,
if good were good enough,
I would simply tap a secret reservoir of courage…
but courage, too, has finite quantities,
yet it offers hope and grace to the repetitive coward.
I can’t fix my mistakes.
Once people are dead, I can’t make them undead…
killing and dying are not my special province.
Am I too good for this war?
Too smart, too compassionate, too everything?
I’m above it. It’s a mistake, maybe.
Look both ways at good and evil or take Hamlet’s advice and think it so.
Mind the gaps between and within our perceptions of what is better and what is truth.
Our Literary Journey 
Can’t help but think of the men dodging the draft in Russia. A stirring write!
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Or fleeing to Canada over 40 years ago. 🙂
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💓
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An honest and positive reflection. I really like this part:
but courage, too, has finite quantities,
yet it offers hope and grace
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Thank you, Grace.
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This is excellent, Bill – I deeply enjoy(ed) it.
❤
David
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Thank you, David. 🙂
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Thank you for the very ponderable poem, Bill.
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Glad you liked it, Lisa. Ponder on! 🙂
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🙂
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There’s a lot to think about here.
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There is. Thanks for saying so. 🙂
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Thanks for waking me up this morning with your conundrum, Bill! Like Tricia, I thought of the Russian soldiers fleeing Ukraine, and of some Americans I met in Germany in the seventies who had escaped being called up. If everyone refused to fight, would we still have wars? I would hope so, but there are always those who thrive on conflict.
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Thank you, Kim. The poem is exactly the inner-conflict faced by the conscripted non-professional soldier.
My take on history is that those who want war always get their wish.
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Very thought provoking and compelling write, Bill. The inner conflict can be killing.
As long as they keep giving a call for war, people will line up. I keep hoping for the day when no one turns up.
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Thank you, Punam.
Indeed so. A better world to be hoped for.
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Hope is all we have. You are so welcome.
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🙂
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This world is rife with its share of evils. What we need is enough contemplation and actions towards goodness.
Much💛love
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Thank you, Gillena.
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Sadly those who start, and prolong, wars, are rarely affected to any extent by them. Historically it has always been young men, their wives, and families, who suffer!
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Sad it al is. Every time.
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Nice, Bill. Were you thinking of drafting for war, would be soldiers in Russia and the Ukrane?
..
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Yes. But not the Russian invasion of Ukraine, specifically.
However, I have no doubt that dissonance applies to men (and perhaps women) being conscripted into wars they do not support.
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As the saying goes, only the dead have seen the end of war. It’s in the DNA of our species, to mass-kill each other for power, trinkets and stupid greed, land, whatever. Those who can rise above it are the exception, and we need more of them. Lots to think about in this finely crafted piece.
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Thank you.
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Conundrum, indeed. Made me think of Achilles and Ulysses having to dig him up out of his mother’s skirts. Homer, the first great poet of war, showing its glory and its deceit.
~ Dora
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A wonderfully written reflective piece, Bill. It is such a conundrum and I cannot imagine the angst one must feel when forced to go fight a war one does not believe in.
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Thank you, Dale. It happens. And it is sad.
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My pleasure.
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🙂
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It is so complex… the only thing true is war itself, eating the living and spreading death
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True.
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