Hal O'Leary - Two Poems

The Innocent

I’m in my grave unsure of why I died.
For liberty and freedom it was not.
I didn’t know the leadership had lied.
I trusted, never knowing why we fought.

For liberty and freedom it was not.
I didn’t know they profited the most.
I trusted, never knowing why we fought.
That’s why, for now and ever, I’m a ghost.

I didn’t know they profited the most,
The psychopaths, that lied us into war.
That’s why, for now and ever, I’m a ghost.
Our sacred land’s not sacred anymore.

The psychopaths, that lied us into war.
They sold my life to satisfy their greed?
Our sacred land’s not sacred anymore.
Could I have died for such an evil deed?

They sold my life to satisfy their greed?
I didn’t know the leadership had lied.
Could I have died for such an evil deed?
I’m in my grave not knowing why I died.



War Is Hell

Yes, War Is Hell, that’s what they say,
But when it comes, it’s all HOORAY!
The flag, of course, is on display,
As patriots all kneel and pray.
“The enemy must die today”.
But who is this foe anyway,
We send our brave boys out to slay?
‘Thou shalt not kill’ commandments say,
But they’re not human, it’s OK.
Beside they come from far away
And worship God another day.


But who am I to question they
Who do what I did yesterday?
For very much to my dismay,
Back then I hid my feet of clay,
And off to Nam, I joined the fray,
To fight for, Good Old USA.
But now, for ignorance I pay,
And here in Arlington they lay
A wreath and rue the day
We bought the lie of Tonkin Bay



Hal O'Leary is an eighty-six-year-old Secular Humanist who believes that it is only through the arts that one is afforded an occasional glimpse into the otherwise incomprehensible.