Authorities

Commanders, and behind them heads of state,
Are said to care for and spend sleepless nights
About the children they commit to war;
You can't help wondering, though, whether they do

Or whether, were you safely in their place
Of power, as it's not likely you would be
Nor weren't, but it's allowed to wonder,
You might not say, "Poor bastards, little shits,

They never learned their history in school,
And now they never will, and cannot know
They are the hinges on which the oily valves
Of history will balance before they close

Upon our reputations now, our fame
In aftertimes, when children will be schooled
Again in truths belatedly belied,
To shoulder our burden and their hopeless charge."

Howard Nemerov, War Stories (U. Chicago, 1987)