Lawyers

All I said I’d do is sit here,

waiting for your hand to lift its fist

clenched to hit, waiting is all I did

"I share your frustration" you said,

as I clenched mine,

and in the rattling of a sabre,

or the snarl of a dog, it was over,

all those careful acts scattered

and now in boxes, stacked

jumbled in storage, or half tumbled

from cupboards,

this was never the way of war,

armies should range in rank

careful generals assess the valley

and the direction of the wind

before their volleys are cast;

because it’s a serious business 
to hack the flesh of men, 
it calls for doctors and poets,

but when we came at eachother,

the war against terror 

was year younger than us; 

and we had only lawyers.