BOOTIES OF WAR

BOOTIES OF WAR

Away a step from the scene

Where a baby mourned her mum who lived no more

It's painful, for us who wept,

found no comforter.

And those who did, took not his advice.

For their fate was controlled

by the stream of endless ocean

That sprang the baby's eye 

Who took no suck if not from mum

Who exists no more.

Back from the scene

For you shall behold and sleep no more.

There lies a river that sustains canals

That flows to an ocean which gives

Wave to no ship of merchandise.

What ended him was the edge of a sword

Pierce into the soul.

All she labored for

was her  vessel of honor,

Who now, is to men

Of valor a booty of war.

Toasted like vow wine,

prepared just for the master's use.

Keep that sword!

Or shall you again race while your mother lame?

I know!

Always had it been in the blood to spill.

And yet, there be no Napoleon

Who will show, only to behold it conquered.

Those who've seen it take it, a film.

Those who have heard it, a story.

And those who've experienced it,

a memory never to let go.

And yet, if there be anything to let go

Then it's the memories of war.

Let's live in peace.

War is my brother,

He had never said anything good

About humanity except blood (waste). 

CONTENT/POETIC ANALYSIS 

In so many places in the world today, people are already living in fear as a result of war and civil unrest. We consider the war between Russia and Ukraine, Israel and Hamas, which has lasted for years, and has claimed scores. It’s still counting. The disruption by the Islamic groups all over the world: The Boko Haram- in Nigeria, ISWAP- in West Africa, Al-Shabaab- in Kenya and Somalia, Al-Qaeda- in the Middle East, Africa, and South Asia, ISIS- in Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, and Pakistan, etc, etc. Booties of War was composed to address this and the need to seek peace. 

Booties of War is a poem of seven irregular stanzas, of free verse. It was composed in the year 2019 by E. L. Teddy(The wordsmith). The first stanza, which has ten lines, paints a picture of a war scene where a woman, a mother, a nursing mother, has just been killed. At this point, her loved ones were on the verge of crying their eyes out. They could not be comforted by all the consolations of the world’s well-wishers. They could not hold their peace because the woman in question had gone years without a child. And when she was finally blessed, war broke out and consumed that very woman they believed had brought joy and happiness to the family. The worst of it all was that, the baby is now motherless,  she has refused to hear from anyone, she has refused to take anything from anyone except the mother, who is no longer alive.

In stanza two, the voice speaking in this piece(the poetic persona) warns, stressing the need to avoid war-torn areas. He stresses that the atrocities that take place or are committed are not something he would wish anyone to see. As every scene was traumatizing, the deaths of almost all the victims who lay there had destabilized their families. They believed so much in them, but all that has ended.

Again, in stanza three, the poetic persona returns back to that child whose mother was killed in stanza one, telling how she had a promising future in the arms of her own mother. But all that won’t be there again. She has been handed over to the influence of society and peer groups to fend for herself. If at all she would be able to sail through it, then she lives in honour. If not, what a roasted yam the society will make of her! The very people who claimed they loved her will defile her; she will be raped, molested, and abused, all for survival.

In Stanza 4, line 1, a command is given: Keep that sword! The sword, as used in this line, represents war, trouble. The poetic persona is addressing people, young men, who think the best way to settle differences is to start a fight. And when they have done that, they run away while their families suffer the aftermath.

In Stanza 5, the poetic persona says that, even though sometimes the solution to a problem may appear to be war, and the approach may be a reduction in human numbers, the main problem isn’t starting it, but… It’s ending it, and the scar left in the wall will never be erased. It takes one person to start it. It takes one speech to fuel it. It takes one strike to escalate it, but it takes a million souls who are not in support of war to end it. These million souls are sometimes found only in books. No one really wants to be a chicken(Read about Chicken Law of International Relations(Chicken Game Theory) here as published by WIKIPEDIA.

In Stanza 6, it is said that some who only see war in Hollywood movies call it a mere film, and they begin to tell how freely it is to live above its pains. Those who have been gist by their grannies who have witnessed war, will enjoy the story and forget the message. And those who have experienced it are traumatized, it becomes a memory that puts them on hold whenever they remember it.

In Stanza 7, the poet pleads, Let’s live in peace! He stressed forward to the claim, metaphorically, that war is his brother. That explains how far he has experienced deadly unrest, war, the pain it has caused, and the trauma it has brought on people. In the last two lines, he concluded by saying that the price for war is high compared to peace, and that the primary approach is elimination. Some of us who have not experienced war before in our lives are the ones who are always echoing, let’s go to war, let’s fight, let’s kill.

Well, I have not experienced war before, but I tell you, I have seen something that looks like one. I tell you, it wasn’t friendly. My final advice: you need not be enraged to prove a point. You need not start what you can’t finish. If you can run, your mother, wife, sibling, and kid(s) can’t.

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