Vengeance*

Closely listen
You will hear the drums
Death is moving
It this way comes.

The crashing cannon
The rifle fire
It is too much
It is far too dire.

Unloose the warrior
Bridle the horse
Give answer to
The wicked one’s force.

Rain down hell
Let it fall wide
Let not one escape
Let not one abide.

Pursue! Pursue!
Let wicked blood flow.
Sound the trumpet!
Let vengeance roll.

* I wrote earlier of my repulsion with war. It is, in every regard, the very last recourse following the failure of reasonable dialogue. But there can be no dialogue with godless creatures like ISIS or Al Queda. When reason fails, the ambassador of bullets must follow. Just hours earlier another westerner lost his life at their evil blade. This poem (it does not merit such a peaceable designation) may have been written concerning the Napoleonic incursions, or Hitler's carving up of the European continent. But the horror of war remains with us. "Wars and rumors of wars" will come before the end, Jesus said. Even so, Lord Jesus, come!