The young are going off
to war again sent
by those who seldom
send their own.
Spit-and-polish recruiters
troll the parking lots of schools
as they would a well-stocked
stream, looking for the disaffected
and the proud
baiting them with words
like honor and glory
the "us" versus "them"
jingo march,
offering the martial incantation
to fight the "other"
over there so we will not
have to engage him here
maintaining the braggadocio
and the lies
even as the sacrificial blood
seeps back into
and stains
America's resurrection soul.