Poetry corner presents: The Godlies

A thought-provoking tale of benign intervention

by Dick Spillage

They went to war on a whim, they did,
On a whim they went to war;
Despite their UN partners' fears
They had to act to avenge the years,
On a whim they went to war!
And when the whim that did the rounds
Wasn't quite sufficient grounds,
They pleaded: "Our support ain't big,
So join us in this hole and dig!
On a whim we'll go to war!"
Far and few, far and few,
Are the hearts the Godlies win;
Their heads are hot, and their words are spew,
And they went to war on a whim.

They bombed Iraq on a whim, they did,
On a whim they bombed Iraq,
Behind the veil of a current threat
In a thesis found on the internet,
They launched the great attack;
In twenty days the allied force
Removed the menace at its source,
Since other means would take too long,
And come what may, it's never wrong
On a whim to bomb Iraq!
Far and few, far and few,
Are the minds the Godlies win;
Their heads are hot, and their words are spew,
And they went to war on a whim.

He had a chemistry lab, he did,
A chemistry lab he had;
With terrible weapons he'd do his worst;
They caught him out by striking first
With weapons that weren't so bad.
And now that they've managed to change régime
Justice runs on a different scheme;
Instead of bodies dumped in graves
Humiliation, naked slaves,
Anything goes in Baghdad.
Far and few, far and few,
Are the hearts the Godlies win;
Their heads are hot, and their words are spew,
And they went to war on a whim.

The terrorists they came in, they did,
The terrorists they came in;
They paved the streets in blood and gore,
But life was better than before
And voting could soon begin.
Fiery Bush, hot Blair, Aznar,
Each of them said: "How wise we are,
The sky is dark, and the fight is long,
Yet how could we ever be rash or wrong,
As tied to our whim we spin!"
Far and few, far and few,
Are the minds the Godlies win;
Their heads are hot, and their words are spew,
And they went to war on a whim.

In a decade they turned it round, they did,
In a decade they turned it round;
It cost a trillion dollars or so
And loss of life — well who's to know
From high on the moral ground.
For they were above international law,
The lack of a plan was a minor flaw;
Commanders in chief who are slightly dim
Can always go to war on a whim,
When tired of waiting around.
Far and few, far and few,
Are the hearts the Godlies win;
Their heads are hot, and their words are spew,
And they went to war on a whim.