A Soldier's Wish

Let's hope that we don't keep the peace
In lands where it does not exist;
Where battles are raging without cease
And generals rule with an iron fist;
Where bullets fly,
And peacekeepers die,
And the idea of peace is pie-in-the-sky.
Let's hope the pols don't throw our lives away,
Just so they can mendaciously say
They did what they could for peace.

This is unusual for me in that it is fictional. The reader is to imagine it 

spoken by a soldier, which I have never been, thank God. It was inspired 

partly by the UN Secretary General calling for more UN troops for 

South Sudan. It is also due to a set of military memoirs I read a long 

time ago, whose author complained about being sent to keep non-existent 

peace and getting shot at by both sides.

Pols is an abbreviation for politicians, popular in the US. 

On a similar topic: Joining Up