15 for 15 Contest --- Closed

Ever since the first rock was thrown
ever since the first bone was brandished
one clan overcame another,
By strength and power, the weak were vanquished.
It has ever been that way:one conquers-
assimilated new into old
interbred, and history passes
battles turned fireside stories told.

Sometimes for land the battle rages
one king must push to have his way,
he must be the one to rule o'er the land;
he must be the one the law to say.
Or two factions differ on what is right,
cloaked in faceless deity-
whence one must believe a certain way
or fight to the death for piety.

It matters not if civilized,
or how much the techniques will advance,
'tis still a battle with losses all
life or death capricious chance.
Generals or kings command the flight
of rocks or bombs, it matter naught
when lifeblood soaks the very ground
was it worth the battle fought?

When children lie crushed beneath the rubble,
when pregnant mother's heart is stilled,
when a father will never again return,
when a grandson's earthly tide fulfilled
'tis easy to point the sharpened finger
and cast the blame both near and far
yet sometimes ideas burn strong beneath
the bloodied bone and far flung star.

When all is said and done
and the ground absorbs the dead
regardless of race or religion
bottom line we all bleed red.
Down the road when history flickers
when perspectives are balanced against the toll
we shall no longer walk this earth
we will not call that final roll.

It is all a matter of perspective, really
as to whom is right or wrong
from whose viewpoint the way is traveled,
from whose pen writes victory song.
Pundits clamor for world peace
a million years the world has waited
reality is human nature
will never all agree, nor is truly fated

to live together side by side
and never fight for what they believe
for when that instinct is stilled at last
what driving force shall we then breathe?