What did YOU do in the Great Anti-War, Mum?
I was there, son, we all were,
a chorus of Christians and Commies,
you and your gran,
half your schoolmates and teachers,
don’t you remember?
Cassandra marched in Rome that day,
3 million, a million in London,
home county mothers from the WI
with their girls in the SWP
and we marched in Glasgow to the SECC,
where Blair was at Party Conference.
With CND and Stop the War,
that Daily Mirror placard
we propped up on your wall
until you cleared your stuff last year,
the crowd-Cassandra rhymed and chanted,
laughed, linked arms and bawled.
There was no Trojan horse this time,
Blix scoured Iraq, found nix,
no Greeks of mass destruction,
the west’s intelligence a fantasy or fake,
Cassandra warned that war would lead to ruin,
but Bush and Blair knew best.
Six hundred cities marched unheard,
the powers listened to their own advice
and set the Middle East alight;
now we, hashtag Cassandra, helpless, mad,
watch Europe drown the refugees
our would-be gods have put to sea.

David Bleiman is an Edinburgh based poet and author of
“This Kilt of Many Colours” available from
poetrykilt.bigcartel.com