Passing by the long line of heads on poles
Seeing the innocent faces of the young
Dressed in their military garb identities
Noting their surnames one by one
The spectacle is unavoidable
On the main road through certain towns
Near here and possibly where we live
After an official invitation went out
To pay to have family ancestry banners made
Showing fallen soldiers killed in foreign wars
Arranged in a stationary parade of lives cut short
Though for now our streets remain unencumbered
This display meant to honor their sacrifice
Has the opposite effect on me
Seeing their disembodied heads staring back
In a silent death assembly
Killed in endless wars of the expanding empire
Reaching back for a century and more
Each one more horrific than the last
Until the next iteration of shock and awe
Compelled to follow orders into harm's way
Sent into combat against someone like themselves
Sacrificed to the insatiable appetite for conquest
With nothing to show for it but a flag draped coffin
Those who would glorify the cause that took them
Do not realize the unintended message
Sending a warning to anyone who passes by
Like the heads on pikes in medieval times
