"Obey" --First poem in a few months. Just wrote it in about 30 seconds. Feedback appreciated.

“Obey,” they'd say—or did they say? It’s hard to recollect
Avenge the wailing plumes of flame
Salute and genuflect.

“Stand tall!” They called, and “kill them all!”--I pushed, and pulled, and ran
“You are the war-child of our dead;
Iraq, Afghanistan.”

And I would be as low as earth if I did not allow
That none of this was done by force, not then, not there,
Not now.

“Move out,” they shout, and never doubt the certainty of war
Peace is luxury for those who sleep
Behind the door.

Shoot back! Attack! Then hit the sack; as rhythmic as the stars,
But keep a bullet chambered; they still know right
Where you are.

“Don’t stay,” they pray, my price is paid; my body spent and flayed
I rummage through the young ones now; It’s me who sighs,
"Obey."
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