A saga of our time....... Children being trained by our schools and their families to take their place as mercenary soldiers in an Empire of Death!

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My sweet lovely son,
Sperm of my sperm,
Blood of my blood,
Bone of my bone,
Gouged out,
From the heart,
And soul,
Of my very own being.

Oh,
That I could hold your hand,
Be at your side,
That I could enter into,
The very center of your soul,
That I could give you shelter,
From the perils of this world,
That I could take your place.

But alas,
I cannot.

Like young pups,
Having been released,
Thrown into the wild.

Innocent children,
Having been forced,
To make their way,
Into a world of thorns!

Naïve fledglings,
Schooled in the flag-draped,
Blood-spattered,
Bush-laden,
No child left behind,
Walls of academia.

Expendables,
Having been taken hostage,
By a confederation,
Of Napoleonic minions,
Jack-booted jingoes,
Fabulists,
Wagering that,
Our children,
Have been blinded,
Into accepting,
The rather grim reality,
Of monetary exchange.

Lads and lassies,
Mere striplings,
Seduced into,
Selling their souls,
To that of,
The highest bidder.

Military recruiters,
Hawkers,
Peddlers of death,
Bribing our children,
Asking that they,
Flush their consciences,
Down the stool,
For thirty pieces,
Of silver,
Cash bonuses,
Worth up to,
Forty thousand dollars,
Dangled like carrots,
On a stick,
For the poor,
To grab!

Ready-made,
Soldiers of fortune,
Hired guns,
Slayers of men,
Women and children,
Throughout the world.

Patriots all,
Each one,
Nothing more,
Nor less,
Than,
Just another,
Mercenary child.

Authors Bio:

Doug Soderstrom is a retired Professor of Psychology having taught for forty-two years at the college level. He was a columnist for the Populist Party of America (www.populistamerica.com/now discontinued) and has been a feature writer for www.iranian.com. His main interest at the present time is in writing poetry, and is in the process of gathering together somewhere around 700 poems that he has written over the past fifteen years, and will be publishing a book entitled "Loose Cannon Parables" if he can find a publisher willing to take on the job of publishing his book of poems.