War And Peace (In Answer To Virgil And C. Day Lewis) Poem by Gert Strydom

Impartially the hand of Odin
came down
in rage and thunder
among mere men,

blazing agony on either side of them,
on a war torn front
without retreat envisioned,
but the pressing feeding of the guns
with men as the fodder

and politicians could not bother
about the mounting casualties, the agonies
of men wounded, dying and killed

and reporting back the black ravens
Huginn and Muninn
brought terrible tidings
at the court of Valhalla,
of the pointless fury of men
on one another

and in Valhalla
memory and thought brought empathy
in the hearts of all gods,
to the extend that they had great pity
for the pointlessness and savagery of war

and before long they wished for peace,
but man would have nothing of it
until the last soldier was slaughtered.

[References: Virgil, Aeneid X, translated by C. Day Lewis. “According to Norse / Anglo-Saxon / German mythology Odin / Odhinn / Woden / Wodan / Woutan is the king of all the gods and the god of war who holds court in Valhalla, where all brave warriors go after death in battle. His two black ravens Huginn (thought) and Muninn (memory) flies daily to gather tidings of world wide events.” ]