AWAY
friendly fire kills
without any
bad intentions
its bullets and bombs
morally superior
but let us pause
for a moment here
for establishing shot
and then
extensive tracking
as we go for
metaphor and
superimposition
passing all those broken
riddled statues
of Mary
and the Christ
in search of a man
called Wilfred, dead now
but formerly a captain
machine-gunned within
sight of peace and an
end of the war
correction, apologies, end
of the war to end all wars
pity we are late
for he was the all-
time expert in battlefield elegy
thinking
of butchered aid workers
he would know
what to write
he would know
what words to kill the lie
sweep away
convenient narrative
a Britsh poet himself
already long-forgotten
the art of a true-blue
true-
blooded imperial culture
to sweep such things away
poems 2 die for 