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Memorial Day, 1984 2024

“War is peace. Freedom is slavery.
Ignorance is strength.”  —George Orwell

Today we honor those who gave their all
In monstrous conflicts in the name of peace;
Those who answered altruism’s call
For war to build a world where all wars cease—
A lie that soldiers die for every day
As those with stakes in arms sling gluts of mud
To stir up fury. Callous battles pay
The greedy ghouls whose palms are slick with blood.
Today we fly our flags and fire our grills
For bravery—recalling freedom’s cost
We nod to those who fought to quash all ills
In fights the fat cats won and bold souls lost.
With terror rife and feuds that never cease
I’ve come to understand that war is peace.

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Susan Jarvis Bryant is a poet originally from the U.K., now living on the Gulf Coast of Texas.

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44 Responses

  1. Dave Etchell

    another thought provoking sonnet, i got round to watching 13 days last night– pretty close to what happened I would think — the world is full of high rank military madmen– the ordinary grunts do the dying– have a good BBQ– hope its not to hot and dry — luscious greens here–18C

    Reply
    • Susan Jarvis Bryant

      It’s great to hear from you, Dave… and what civilized temperatures you are experiencing over the pond. It’s crazy hot here in Texas and it’s not summer yet! Sadly, I’m sure you are right when you say, “the world is full of high rank military madmen– the ordinary grunts do the dying”. History repeats itself in many guises which is why it’s good to return to films like 13 days… it tends to put things into perspective. A lot can be learned from the Cuban Missile Crisis. I hope your bank holiday Monday is uniquely rain-free.

      Reply
  2. Phil S.Rogers

    Susan; A poem to honor those who fought and died, and also to call out the ‘greedy ghouls’ and ‘fat cats’ that keep pushing behind the scenes for everlasting conflict. Wow, not sure how many people really understand this, and not sure how many people would dare to put it into a poem. GOOD job!

    Reply
    • Susan Jarvis Bryant

      Phil, you’ve summed my poem up better than I could have myself, and I thank you wholeheartedly for getting it and for your appreciation. It’s tough to write a heartfelt poem for all those who died in the name of freedom and peace when we are now staring WWIII in the face because of greedy tyrants stoking chaos at the people’s expense. By “the people”, I mean those at home and those abroad.

      Reply
  3. Brian A. Yapko

    There are many layers of meaning in this sonnet, Susan, which result from the collision of a slightly sardonic tone concerning the fat cats versus authentic respect for our honored dead. This collision, of course, overlays the Orwellian double-speak which is far from history’s first example of gaslighting (the movie “Gaslight” itself came out in 1943, 6 years earlier.) But 1984 is the quintissential example of showing how to utilize gaslighting for propaganda and political manipulation — things which are high on the leftist agenda these days.

    “War is peace” has layers of meaning. There is the nice reference to Tolstoy, of course, but there are hints of the military machines which demand constant war to keep economies going. Then, when you speak of war to end all war, it is hard not to recall that “the War to End All Wars” took place over 100 years ago and not only failed to resolve War, but spawned a series of disasters which led to World War II as well as the forever Israel-Arab wars.

    Despite the underlying sadness and hardness in your poem, I’m glad you keep the spotlight on gratitude to the service men and women who gave their lives for an ideal. Their sacrifice was not in vain. Rather, we are challenged to live up to it.

    Reply
    • Susan Jarvis Bryant

      Brian, thank you very much for your close and careful reading of my sonnet. For the past few years, I’ve felt compelled to write a poem on Memorial Day, especially since my grandfather fought in WWII. I didn’t want to this year because I find it so hard to get my head around the horrors of the Middle East – horrors created by a tyrannical government that cares little for we the people and a lot for personal power and riches… but, my muse would hear none of it. This is one of those poems that wrote itself in all of an hour.

      The poem is full of all those things you mention and more… thoughts festering inside me for some years spilled out this morning. The older I get and the more iron-fisted those who govern us get (especially during these post-covid days), the more I can relate to the Orwell quote preceding my sonnet.

      I am most grateful for my grandfather’s grit and for all those who have fought for our freedoms… and now look. Every freedom our forefathers have earned is ebbing away as we watch the next generations go to war without their country behind them. Iraq and Afghanistan are prime examples of our untrustworthy governments. It’s not that I’m against war per se – I am just against incompetency and evil. I can no longer trust those in power when they make a mess of everything they touch and label the people they serve “baskets of deplorables” and “terrorists”.

      Brian, I wanted to shine a spotlight on all those who have fought for our freedoms. I am most grateful to my grandfather and “all those service men and women who gave their lives up for an ideal” – and therein lies the rub. The “ideal” has been trampled on by those who have a different ideal.

      Reply
  4. Alan Orsborn

    My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
    To children ardent for some desperate glory,
    The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est
    Pro patria mori.*

    —Wilfred Owen

    *Horace, “it is sweet and fitting to die for one’s country.”

    Reply
    • Alan Orsborn

      Your poem seems to undulate between several opposing ideas, covering all the bases as it were, finally landing in the last two couplets on the idea that war, as hateful as it is, is necessary. It’s a conclusion I dislike, but in the end, it may be true, I don’t know. Certainly it seems unavoidable.

      Reply
      • Susan Jarvis Bryant

        Alan, I missed your comment on my last two couplets conveying the idea that “war, as hateful as it is, is necessary” – I’m sorry it’s unclear. It’s probably down to my mind being in chaos over war and the meaning of it and what’s behind it.

        I believe in defending one’s life, loved ones, and land. If one has to go to war to do that, then so be it. As I’ve said, my grandfather fought in WWII, and I don’t think I would have had the freedoms I’ve enjoyed without the temporary defeat of the Nazis. I say temporary, because here we go again – standing up against tyranny. Only this time it’s OUR government, not someone else’s. I hate war. The only people who love it are those getting rich from it – the entire point of my poem.

        “War is peace” is a nod to the foresight of Orwell. We are being sold that line by a global cabal making sack loads of money at the expense of the innocent. I don’t agree with the wars we’re getting involved with now. When you can’t trust your own government to keep you safe; when your own government has turned the cameras on you; when your own government is able to gag you, imprison you in your own home, and inject you with experimental drugs… why would you trust them to fight for your rights or anyone else’s rights, for that matter?

    • Susan Jarvis Bryant

      Thank you for this, Alan. When one reads the War Poets it really is hard to imagine that “it is sweet and proper to die for one’s country” – Wilfred Owen’s words certainly don’t romanticize war. They are horrific and haunting and give a very clear picture of what war looks like. There is however something deep in our guts that calls us to protect our land and our family, and this instinct is the very thing that drives us to war. The trouble is, these days our countries are very hard to recognize. Our families have been torn apart and our history and our culture have been stolen by our very own governments. What does “war” mean anymore. It means money to those in power… and some of us are feeling increasingly like pawns in a losing game of chess.

      Reply
      • Alan Orsborn

        I should have made clear, I was reminded of Owen’s poem as I read yours. I think I was distracted with a houseful of grandsons and dogs. I posted the quote as a compliment. Your poem perfectly captures the situation the West faces today. With a collapsing consensus as to what even constitutes a nation with governance that is as incompetent as it is corrupt, who signs up to defend this kind of monstrosity? Oh wait, there’s talk of bringing back the draft: an army of conscripted slaves. Here we go again, for sure.

      • Susan Jarvis Bryant

        What better way to spend a Memorial Day afternoon than ” distracted with a houseful of grandsons and dogs.” In a world that doesn’t value family and seeks to isolate us from all things bright and beautiful, you are a blessed man, Mr. Orsborne. It’s been lovely talking with you.

  5. Joseph S. Salemi

    I think we can best understand the anger in Susan’s poem when we consider this: The same politicians and corporate influencers who started (and are still pushing) the pointless bloodbath in the Ukraine are the same ones in the UN and the NGOs who are frantically screaming for the Israelis to stop fighting in Gaza.

    Yes, certain big shots want war, but only if their side is the one that wins. If their side begins to lose, they start whining for ceasefires and UN resolutions and “humanitarian aid.”

    Reply
    • Susan Jarvis Bryant

      Joe, thank you for this. I agree with you for the most part. The only thing I question is the winning aspect. I’m not sure the bigshots care who wins… I think they only care about money. We surrendered Afghanistan to the Taliban. The very enemy we were supposedly “fighting” we have now armed to the teeth and then some. We also left our American citizens behind and hundreds of Afghani translators working for us have been murdered. We fund Iran. That’s why I don’t think winning is of any significance to these greedy ghouls whose palms are slick with blood.” I may be wrong and would welcome being put straight. But at this point, I don’t trust any war plans drawn up for the benefit of the we the people… at home or abroad. I applaud our servicemen and women. It’s those who govern them I don’t trust.

      Reply
      • Joseph S. Salemi

        Susan, if you mean that there are amoral weapons-dealers and munitions-makers who get rich from every war, and who don’t really care one way or another about who’s right and who’s wrong, as long as they pay up front for bullets and bombs, then I agree totally. These bloodsucking ghouls exist in every war.

        But I also think that many wars today have a deep ideological motivation, the purpose of which is to create a massive globalist government run on left-liberal principles, and determined to destroy the sovereignty of nation-states.

        Recall the old French saying, used to explain the source of any difficulty or conflict: CHERCHEZ LA FEMME. In wars today, I suggest the following saying: CHERCHEZ LES GAUCHISTES.

        The globalist left is behind everything.

      • Mike Bryant

        The enlightened governments realize that in order to win, no one can win… wars must continue indefinitely. If a war must end, for whatever reason, then new wars must commence immediately. Funding, of course, must be available and plentiful for all sides of every conflict, which guarantees full employment and maximum growth in GDP, employment and stock market returns for our government/military/medical/industrial complex. I naively hope that our Neo-Cons of both parties don’t realize that their strategies are guaranteeing global tyranny. But I don’t think they really care.

        “Of all the enemies to public liberty war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded because it comprises and develops the germ of every other. War is the parent of armies; from these proceed debts and taxes… known instruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few.… No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare.” — James Madison

      • Susan Jarvis Bryant

        Joe, I agree with all you say on the Globalist front. If one begins to look at politics with their ideology in mind, everything the Western world is going through begins to make sense – and it’s chilling. To reach their goal, they have to crush our culture and replace it with their religion… a religion that promotes depopulation and groupthink and the worshipping of man instead of God. It’s a shame the majority of Western world politicians (left and right) have put money before integrity. The majority of politicians have never had it so good!

  6. Paul A. Freeman

    In ‘1984’, Julia posits that the ‘steamers’ (V1-type rockets that randomly hit London every now and again) are actually launched by Oceania (their own side), to rile up the people and perpetuate the continual state of war.

    We have not only long-range drones killing perceived enemies by remote control from porta-cabins on home territory, but smaller drones dropping hand grenades on front line troops in the Ukraine.

    The production of robots to take the place of humans in warfare is close to fruition, but shrouded in secrecy.

    Nothing about war seems to be noble these days, if ever it was.

    A timely reminder, Susan, and respect to all the common soldiers who’ve fought out of a sense of righteousness down the ages.

    Reply
    • Susan Jarvis Bryant

      Paul, a lot of what you say makes sense to me. I believe we the people are being played horribly by those in power to nefarious ends. I am with you when you say: “respect to all the common soldiers who’ve fought out of a sense of righteousness down the ages” – it’s those stalwart souls with a sense of justice we owe our gratitude to, and I thank them, wholeheartedly. I thank you, too.

      Reply
  7. Julian D. Woodruff

    You definitely wrote a poem that no American reader can be comfortable with, Susan.
    This may seem an odd, even slightly off-base. “Today we fly our flags and fire our grills …” My experience with art featuring the American flag is that the theme / occasion is usually the 4th, not Memorial Day or Labor Day. The flag is just so candy-stripe exuberant, next other nation’s flags (the Union Jack excepted, it’s almost giddiness encoded. It invites joyous celebration, which usually (these days) involves grills and chilled drinks. But we need to think of restoring (if possible) the sobriety the holiday was proclaimed to invoke, if we can’t end war and banish arms profiteers.

    Reply
    • Susan Jarvis Bryant

      Julian, I know I’m a relatively new citizen, but I have seen many flags raised in Texas on Memorial Day… at the cemeteries, in parades, in backyards etc.
      I was under the impression that on Memorial Day the flag should be flown at half-staff from sunrise until noon and then raised until sunset in honor of the nation’s battle heroes. I do agree with you on the sense-of-sobriety front. You will be pleased to know that I am in a somber and contemplative mood today, which is why I wrote my sonnet. Thank you for your comments.

      Reply
      • Julian D. Woodruff

        Not at all to contradict you, Susan–all national holidays are indeed appropriate occasions for flying the flag, high or low according to the occasion. Its just that its colors and composition welcome more readily (to me anyway) high spirits, less so sober remembrance and reflection

      • Susan Jarvis Bryant

        Julian, thank you for your viewpoint – a good one that I understand and can relate to. Remembrance Sunday held in November in the UK is a sombre occasion. I remember visiting my grandparents as a child on that day, and the overwhelming aura of respect and sadness has remained with me all of my life… which is why I feel so passionate on days such as these. I don’t want the memory of all those who fought in the name of freedom to fade with our history and our culture. I wanted to highlight our plight and their courage.

    • Joshua C. Frank

      That depends on where you live. I’m in the Heartland, and I’ve seen tons of American flags around for Memorial Day.

      Reply
  8. Joshua C. Frank

    Great poem, Susan!

    The more history I read, the more I know that history is always written by the winners. We won war X because we’re the good guys and they were the bad guys, end of story. We ignore the fact that the Nazis were largely defeated by the Russians (most soldiers who gave their lives in that conflict were Russian), that the United States came to World War I to late to have an effect, and that the North started a war against the South for some very ignoble reasons that had nothing to do with slavery.

    In fact, you can’t find material in English on the battle between the English Navy and the Spanish Armada in 1588 that doesn’t paint Spain as the villain. It’s almost as difficult to find books that question the French Revolution slogan, “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity.”

    We agree that “war is hell,” but always add that war is sometimes necessary to bring about a greater good. Meanwhile the examples were all orchestrated by those “fat cats” you mention, and soldiers are fooled into thinking they’re dying for a good cause.

    Reply
    • Susan Jarvis Bryant

      Josh, thank you so much for your thought-provoking observations. I am particularly taken with, “We ignore the fact that the Nazis were largely defeated by the Russians”. Many of these Russians fought for us in the hope that we would offer them sanctuary from the Gulags and certain death if they returned to Russia. I have just recently found out from Solzhenitsyn’s “The Gulag Archipelago” that Britain and America returned these Russian freedom fighters with no mercy, which has made me think deeply about the “truth” I’ve been taught and the actual truth… hence my poem.

      Reply
  9. James Sale

    Very, very skilfully done – especially that last line, a real clincher. When will we teach you in schools?

    Reply
  10. Warren Bonham

    This reminds me of the old Bob Dylan song “Masters of War”, but it’s much better done. Dylan had a few great zingers about the Fat Cats who were behind the scenes pulling all the strings. When that song was written, it stirred the passions of the left-leaning youth in America. Your updated version should get them riled up, but they are too ignorant to understand that. If we could ever win the war on Truth, we could start making some real progress.

    Great and sobering poem!

    Reply
    • Susan Jarvis Bryant

      Warren, I am most grateful to you for pointing me in the direction of Bob Dylan’s “Masters of War” – I will admit to never having heard of it. “You play with my world like it’s your little toy” is where we’re at… what a great line! You are right when you say, “If we could ever win the war on Truth, we could start making some real progress” – I believe Truth will win this war… and those speaking it will have the last, eternal laugh. 🙂

      Reply
  11. James Sale

    The weird thing about Dylan, Warren, is that he is a quintessential fat cat himself, for all the lyrical posturing otherwise.

    Reply
    • Warren Bonham

      I know very little about his personal life (a deficit which I need to address). I was very surprised when he was awarded the Nobel Prize for his supposed “poetry”. Pretty much everyone who posts on this site is more accomplished than Mr. Dylan at merging rhyme and meter with a compelling message. Maybe it was his mastery of the harmonica that led to his outsized appeal.

      Reply
    • Susan Jarvis Bryant

      What an interesting piece of information, James – serving to prove that actions really do speak louder than words.

      Reply
      • James Sale

        Yes, if it was really worth doing I could give you a lot more detail on it! Suffice to say, his autobiography, Chronicles, must rank as one of the most disingenuous I have ever read. No mentions of his first love, money, and the deals he’s made; hardly a second mention of his second love, women, for you’d think he’d been a happily married family man all his life. Joan Baez is glimpsed as a sort of Virgin Mary the young folk-sters of Newport adored at a distance! It’s all a Barnum Circus, which is to say, a show – as was his no-show for the Nobel Prize (though I knew he’d still collect the money!) He wrote a few good songs but literary giant, he ain’t.

  12. Roy Eugene Peterson

    This is another one of your thought-provoking poems shimmering with the words of wisdom at which you are so adept.

    Reply
    • Susan Jarvis Bryant

      Thank you very much for your continued support and appreciation, Roy. I’m most grateful.

      Reply
  13. David Paul Behrens

    Masters of War (Bob Dylan – !963)

    Come you masters of war
    You that build all the guns
    You that build the death planes
    You that build all the bombs
    You that hide behind walls
    You that hide behind desks
    I just want you to know
    I can see through your masks

    You have never done nothin’
    But build to destroy
    You play with my world
    Like it’s your little toy
    You put a gun in my hand
    And you hide from my eyes
    Then you turn and run farther
    When the fast bullets fly

    Like Judas of old
    You lie and deceive
    A world war can be won
    You want me to believe
    But I see through your eyes
    And I see through your brain
    Like I see through the water
    That runs down my drain

    You fasten all the triggers
    For the others to fire
    Then you set back and watch
    When the death count gets higher
    You hide in your mansion
    As the young people’s blood
    Flows out of their bodies
    And is buried in the mud

    You’ve thrown the worst fear
    That can ever be hurled
    Fear to bring children
    Into the world
    For threatening my baby
    Unborn and unnamed
    You ain’t worth the blood
    That runs in your veins

    How much do I know
    To talk out of turn
    You might say that I’m young
    You might say I’m unlearned
    But there’s one thing I know
    Though I’m younger than you
    Even Jesus would never
    Forgive what you do

    Let me ask you one question
    Is your money that good
    Will it buy you forgiveness
    Do you think that it could
    I think you will find
    When your death takes its toll
    All the money you made
    Will never buy back your soul

    And I hope that you die
    And your death will come soon
    I will follow your casket
    In the pale afternoon
    And I’ll watch while you’re lowered
    Down to your deathbed
    And I’ll stand o’er grave
    Till I’m sure that your dead

    Reply
    • Susan Jarvis Bryant

      Thank you, David – a timeless gem I have only just had the pleasure of reading and hearing, all because of my friends in poetry on this site – another thing to be thankful to the SCP for. While I’m in a mood of gratitude, I’d like to thank Evan for the great accompanying picture… it highlights my message perfectly. Evan, you have a gift we all benefit from!

      Reply
  14. Adam Wasem

    So cleverly sardonic and paradoxical, the way you so expertly undercut the laudatory bromides with the disgusting money-grubbing reality of our current military foreign policy. I especially liked “whose palms are slick with blood,” nicely playing off the figure of speech “greasing palms.” If more perceived the blood-soaked nature of the taxpayer windfalls our war profiteers enjoy, the Ukraine and Israel conflicts might never have occurred, or would at least have been quickly concluded. Aside from the horrific and pointless current overseas conflicts that the Biden regime is currently sponsoring, if you’re looking for a real blackpill about WWII, try reading Pat Buchanan’s “Churchill, Hitler, and the Unnecessary War.” Compare some of the revelations in that with any recent war’s propaganda, and you’ll never trust the corporate media or academia on anything ever again.

    Reply
    • Susan Jarvis Bryant

      Adam, it’s always great to hear from you and thank you for your close reading of my poem. You have hit the nail firmly on the head with your astute observations. I have doubted our governments’ motives for some years and decided that WWII was the nearest to any justified war that I could imagine… only to read the words of Solzhenitsyn concerning the callous return of Russians to a cruel fate in their homeland when we had finished with their services. This sent chills. Thank you for your Pat Buchanan recommendation – I will brace myself. Before I came to Texas in 2011, I only read fiction. Upon arrival, I swept all fiction aside in favor of non-fiction, and my life and my poetry have never been the same.

      Reply
  15. Daniel Kemper

    I thought that this was great irony, “With terror rife and feuds that never cease
    I’ve come to understand that war is peace.” Of course citing newspeak in an ironic way.

    Always with the high craft and wit. Always a pleasure.

    Reply
  16. Yael

    Great poem Susan, and I even had the pleasure of reading it on Memorial Day, right before our internet went out. Your poem well expresses how I feel about the holiday, except that I don’t fly flags.
    After I read it, I typed a comment and hit the Submit button. This caused my comment to get sucked into the black hole of a severed internet connection, and it never came back. The internet is back now and I’m writing this new comment to let you know that I really appreciate your poem. I hope you had a nice Memorial Day.

    Reply
    • Susan Jarvis Bryant

      Yael, I’m thrilled you enjoyed my Memorial Day poem. I am so glad to hear you’re back online and very happy that you made the effort to comment again. It’s always good to hear from you. Thank you!

      Reply

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