How wrong we were

How wrong we were

Some might say that we still are

“Let them fight it out.”

They would say

Parents, friends and enemies alike

Standing in a circle

As archetypes play

Handbags at five paces

“Leave them to sort out their differences,

Don’t interfere.

Especially in a marital spat.

They will come together

Turn against you

So they will.”

Families will fight each other

But unite against an outsider.

Too much is made of neutrality

Passive partiality.

Not getting involved

Is an intervention.

Watching two drunks slug it out

Gunslingers

At dawn

Pale riders

Are approaching

Watch as they paint

The town red.

Wait until the clock hits twelve

There is nothing noble

About it

Baying from the bleachers

As guilty survivors wail

Solemn smoke billows

As death tolls rise.

Is it too late yet

To believe

Good souls

Will be saved

When steeped

In the ways of their fathers

Who fought their own,

Just battles,

Whether they wanted to

Or not

Were right to do so

Or not.

Who cares or remembers

When there is a good name at stake,

A code to honour

A wrong to put right

Vengeance to be had.