The Color of War [Iraqi: war poem]





Introduction: Here is an unusual war poem Dennis has written today, on the Iraqi war. He said after following it for four years, “…it is getting old; yet it sells papers doesn’t it?” He was for the war when it was a war, so he told me, but now it is not, it is more a police action, he explains to me, and feels perhaps we have overstayed our welcome. “And what are the motivating factors now?” he asks. He adds, “When we get into questioning the motives, after a war, when they are not clear, it is perhaps time to leave…” Dennis being a Vietnam Vetern knows a little bit about how it all works; and here in this poem, he paints his picture of war, the Iraqi war, and how he sees the colors of war through color crayons of a little boy.

The Color of War
[Iraqi: war poem]

I saw the other day—
A little boy coloring away
(With crayons) in a sketch book;
With every colored pencil
Under the rainbow—
And then some…

And when I took a second look
I thought of the Iraqi war
(American and Allied soldiers)
And all the colors it stood for:

Red was for the blood they’ve shed;
Gray, for depression of their families
Far away…
Blue was for sad skies;
Black and white, for death and life;
Green, for the spoils we’ve not seen;
Brown, for the dray and dusty nights
All the solders had to fight—on
Foreign ground.

I pleaded, for the boy to stop,
Surprised, he looked up at me—
With his deep blue eyes, haunting
Me, he said, with a tear on his cheek:
“I wanted to color the soldier’s feet!”
I looked and there it read: ‘Peace’
Already colored-in, with gray:
Said the boy still looking at me:
“That’s the way it came.”

#1371 6/16/06