I was not alive during World War Two
Even Dad was a lad during the Blitz,
Living a stone's throw from Fisherman's Wharf
Nightly bombarded by 'The Luftwaffe Fritz'
Remember reading about the Yangtze incident,
In a historical magazine edition
As well as the wars in Kenya and Korea
The horrors of the Indian Partition
Little more than just a toddler
Back in October sixty-two
When the standoff Cuban Crisis
Left Russia in an American stew
In my youth, whilst still a schoolboy,
I was tutored on Oppenheimer's plan
Completely unfathomable actions
And a tragedy for the whole of Japan
We saw the aftermath in documentaries
The burning flesh, the loss of sight
Congenital new birth defects
How could 'Enola Gay' have been right
Luckily, my military service began
As the Vietnam War ended,
But Irish Republican dissidents
Showed Britain and I were undefended
Remembering active service training,
Watching horrific films of nuclear war.
We all worried in silent foreboding
Do we have futures? What's in store?
We trained hard, practised drills in case
All hell broke, and the bomb was dropped?
We acted out cold war scenarios
Just in case our crazy world popped
We were all so frightened,
We were so very scared
We were young, with only one hope
That all our tomorrows would be spared
Despots with fingers on the buttons
Of far more bombs than it would take
To blow this world to smithereens
A dust cloud, a radioactive wake.
I have shocking nightmares even today
Of just what might have been
We live in mutual peace together
Let nothing come between
I have, for many long years, felt
Comfort, whilst snuggled in my bed
Recent events have clearly shown
You can't completely escape your dread
The Madmen, the politicians
Argue against each other’s cause
But it's the little people who suffer
The futility of the inevitable wars.
The conflict with Ukraine has clearly shown
That Mother Russia intends not to be
Content with a new cold war scenario, but
Intent on World War Three
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