The War Poetry Website
Poems by David Roberts

Biographical information about David Roberts can be found by clicking here.
Note on There will be Peace:
I realised that my poem "There will be no peace" which appeared in my volume of Kosovo War Poetry was entirely negative and that it could be the opposite. So this is a re-write of my 1999 poem written just after the Kosovo war, but partly with the conflict and people of Northern Ireland in mind.
DR
There Will Be Peace
There will be peace:
when attitudes change;
when self-interest is seen as part of common interest;
when old wrongs, old scores, old mistakes
are deleted from the account;
when the aim becomes co-operation and mutual benefit
rather than revenge or seizing maximum personal
or group gain;
when justice and equality before the law
become the basis of government;
when basic freedoms exist;
when leaders - political, religious, educational - and
the police and media
wholeheartedly embrace the concepts
of justice, equality, freedom, tolerance, and
reconciliation
as a basis for renewal;
when parents teach their children new ways to think
about people.
There will be peace:
when enemies become fellow human beings.
David Roberts
November 2003
Shall we remember what war is?
Each Remembrance Day
shall we remember what war is?
What is war?
In the human psyche
it is the fatal flaw,
a perversion of the human mind,
using our greatest brains to create
a threat to all mankind.
War is
the profoundest disrespect
for the sanctity
of human life,
the ultimate in racism,
the collapse of morality.
War is
the ultimate in criminality,
the ultimate obscenity,
the ultimate crime against humanity.
So shall we honour war?
and shall we now praise broken men?
And shall we remember what war is
and give true meaning
to "Never again?"
David Roberts
28 September 04
Remembrance Day 2004
Remembrance Day 2004.
More British soldiers dead
In another British war.
Yesterday some of their parents
In anguish and anger went to Downing Street
To lay a wreath
To lay the blame
At the door
Of the man most responsible
For our latest war.
But their sons are gone.
And Iraq's cities are in ruins.
In many thousands Iraq, too, has lost its sons.
Their sons are gone, their children maimed.
Chaos and trauma are everywhere.
For the shattering of this nation
We share the blame.
No fine words can give these crimes
The slightest gloss.
Parents grieve. Such a quantity of grief.
Such needless destruction. Such needless pain.
Parents grieve.
Let us reflect on
Their needless loss.
Let us reflect on their needless loss.
David Roberts
Many more poems to be added to this page (June 2019)