Sitting it out

So we might sit this one out

Not because of fright

Or an outbreak of humbleness

Or because the weakness

Of common sense has

Sapped the ferocity of

The armchair generals

But because we don’t have the numbers.

Politics is ephemeral

So its not about what is fair

It’s about what is possible

And those in the know

Know that right now we have

No stomach for war

Except war with ourselves.

It didn’t start with Kosovo

But that righteous interlude

Reawakened the sense

That we were masters of events

And we knew what was best

Not just for ourselves

But also for others.

The others were multitude

And we were like lemmings

Called by unseen forces

To lend our arms and voices

To what was correct; to unite

In spreading the light.

But that light was very bright

And when we look back

At the flash bang moments

It seems we often acted in error

And on reflection

Long shadows from Irak

Leave burned on our retinas

The after images of terror.

So, even though evil in Syria

Should be worried about

And we are not dealing

With dodgy dossiers

But rather the facts

And the pathetic scenes

Of children being hosed down

In Douma after another

Heartless chemical attack

Launched by Russia and Assad

Rightly makes our blood boil

We need to learn the lesson

Of not going to worse from bad;

That’s history’s curse.

So when the old war horse snorts

And the ears prick up

And we wake from our slumbers

To the gunfire’s shout

Calling us to the front

I’m glad we don’t have the numbers

And we might sit this one out.