A Poem..... Worth reading?.... I hope you'll think so... Happy New Year.

In the melancholy moments of a childhood remembered, I was inspired to put these words to paper.......

GROWING UP..... By Mike Staples

When I was a child and would play...
On my stomach in a foxhole for hours I'd lay.
I'd fight the war to right all wrongs....
Accompanied by all the military's songs.

For truth and justice I'd endure all pain...
To be the hero like John Wayne.
I never questioned if the battle was just...
Or if my weapons showed signs of rust.

I never feared for the enemies I'd kill...
It was my quest their blood to spill.
This game I played for years and years....
With no regrets and little fears.

It was my goal, it was my right...
To defend my country with all my might.
And as I grew I learned to be...
The man my parents hoped for me.

But what I found as I did age...
Were ideals of youth that fell to rage.
The nation of justice and of right...
Became invaders in the night.

Instead of values I'd been taught...
I saw those values had all been bought.
Paid for in blood on desert sands....
As we aggressed in to their lands.

Where once we were defenders of right...
Now we were executioners of might.
No honor fought, no honor gained...
Our righteousness was now all feigned.

We dealt death's blows with our first strikes....
While all the while we cried like shrikes.
We're victims we cried with indignation....
While behind it we sought provocation.

And from my childhood foxhole I peered....
And deep inside me my shame seared.
How could we be these awful foes....
To cause so many earthly woes.

It's not the country I defended...
There is no right like I pretended.
What happened to helping those in need....
When did we circumvent to greed.

Where are the values of Mom and Dad...
And when did we go from good to bad.
Have we sold our souls for pieces of gold....
To realize this makes my blood run cold.

It's sad to say goodbye to truths...
And harder yet to ignore the proof.
But here we are on planet Earth...
Our only values are what we're worth.

We've killed the good and destroyed the seed....
We've spurned it all in the name of greed.
We've changed the world, but not for good...
We've lost the meaning of what we should.

It could have been such a lovely place...
But when we're through there'll be no trace.
Mankind remembered, a strange species...
He turn his garden in to feces.

And in his vision, he lost all sight....
Of what was good, and what was right...
And mankind disappeared into the night.