#231 The Books of War

We trapped words in pages and used it to inform the ages

Past and present of everything we'd come to represent

The stories of those who had come before us, the chorus,

Forgetting those stories which were so-so and would bore us

Instead embracing the flow of those who spoke most sonorous

But the stories which were a must were those about our bloodlust

The tales of the fictional "us", the heroes who would slay to stay alive

Would always narrowly survive, and the and only die if by

Doing so they could imbibe us with some killer wisdom

Though first their tales would be spread throughout the kingdom

Take the princess's hand and steal her father's land

All following a dubious master plan

But fiction fantasies are fine, but in fact I was never a fan

Instead, I was more amazed and enthralled

By those who actually survived through ambition

The master, the genius, the tactician

Those who first wrote the lines on risking human lives

And learnt the exact exchange for blood guns and knives

Who wrote their facts as abstracts in little paper pages

The books of war - passed on through the ages

Written in red ink so how many whole souls

Had been sacrificed for this slice of aims and goals

Listen, listen no surprise as you turn each page

As you hear the cries as you feel the rage

Uncover with hesitation one more line of genuinely killer advice with a ten soul citation

These were the books that went on to found nations

These were the books which would inspire the future trades in lovers

In mothers, in fathers, in sons, daughters, and lovers.

Those were the books to make us fight one another

Lovingly bound in leather for the leisurely pleasure of the reader

Dotted with the 'i's of those who fought the field to bleed a cause

Without yield or pause - fighting for what they felt was right

And so polite, they laid down their lives in both day and night

Exactly in a field in the place and time they were told

Crossed their fingers and watched their general's tactic unfold

To the plans adapted from a book written centuries prior

By an scholarly author, whose words of wisdom in war would inspire

One more leader. One more who could make others die at their whim

That's all it would ever took for a new war to begin

And if you ever feel like books don't mean anything anymore

I encourage you to feel the doom in your hands when you hold the Books of War

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