In War, you furnish Corpses & Taxes,
And others get the Glory – Speculators
Make Money out of it, that is, out of you²
Pickers of Bone, Meddlers in other men’s
Sorrows – Carrion-Fowl that grow Fat on War³
Bodies count as Coins – in Accountants’ books⁴
War: when Money Rolls in and Blood Rolls out
But Blood is Far away from here – Money is Near⁵
Conscription: a Monstrous deed against humanity
In the interest of the Financiers of Wall Street⁶
The Primary aim of Modern Warfare is to
Use the Products of the machine, without
Raising the general standards of Living⁷
Guns spell Money’s Ultimate Reason
In Lead Letters on the spring hillside⁸
Glory to the Generals, Death to the
Privates, Wealth to the Merchants,
And Unemployment to the Poor⁹
Nobody wants the War – only
The Money Fights on alone¹⁰
¹ Hayao Miyazaki, Porco Rosso
² Bolton Hall, The Effect of War on Workingmen
³ J.R.R. Tolkien, The Two Towers
⁴ L. Renée, Exodus: Gilliam Coal Camp, West Virginia, 1949
⁵ Langston Hughes, Green Memory
⁶ Charles Schenck, quoted in A People’s History of the United States
⁷ George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four
⁸ Stephen Spender, Ultima Ratio Regum
⁹ Howard Zinn, A People’s History of the United States
¹⁰ Philip Whalen, The War Poem for Diane di Prima