Poetry

DOD photo

By

Ben White

Comfort Earned

Veterans’ Day 2018

The American President –

Speaking at a ceremony

Honoring the fallen

At the Suresnes Cemetery –

Welcomed a few

World War Two veterans

Who were in attendance,

And he remarked how they looked,

“So comfortable up there,

Under shelter,

As we’re getting drenched.”

The president

Would be better served

To remember –

Especially on Veterans’ Day –

Those men

Know what it means

To be drenched…

…and tired,

Hungry, cold, and thirsty,

Scared, and stricken with sorrow,

Having lived through

The extreme evils

Of inhumanity –

All while the president’s father

Stayed at home collecting

The returns

From stateside profiteering

Off military contracts.

Those veterans

Had earned any and all

Comforts they were enjoying

Listening to the president speak

For twenty minutes

In a light,

Paris

Rain.

Ben White

Author of the books, Buddha Bastinado Blues and The Kill Gene, Ben White thought he was a poet, only to find out he is not a poet at all. He is a witness. What he writes is testimony.