What can we learn from war?

Gazing at ancient graves;

Name upon name preserved,

Marking the battle’s phase;

The lives of those who gave their all

That we should not be tyrants’ slaves.

Was all their blood for naught,

Poured on the sands of time,

Buried in ocean depths,

Tortured in flesh and mind?

Their sacrifice was not in vain

If we reflect on all their pain.

Enter the darkest night

Housed in the human mind;

Terrors of human greed

Crushing their humankind.

The enemy lies deep within,

But deeper still our God we find.

Watch for the signs of hate

Blighting the spirit’s tree.

Let go of cold revenge

Blinding the way we see.

Treat all the world as ‘friends of God’,

The hope of all we each could be.

Look at the structured ways

People secure their wealth.

Watch with a careful eye

Greed and its silent stealth,

For good and ill surround us still

In thoughts and deeds that kill Earth’s health.

Yes! we will learn from war

Heeding its sacrifice,

Learning from history’s pain

Lessons of highest price.

The cost of peace is wakeful minds

Alert to each disguised device.

Alternative Tune: LITTLE CORNARD

Text and Music © William Livingstone Wallace.

Click here to see the score:  Wallace.What Can We Learn From War

Click here to hear the music: