Voice of the ancient enemy

[Aan]

This is a poem I wrote after reading a chapter from Henry V as Warlord by Desmond Seward. The poem is told from the point of view of a young French refugee complaining to the Holy Roman Empire, England, Bohemia, the Teutonic Knights, and all the other"superpowers" about his country's devastation during the Hundred Years' War.

Author's Note: I was looking for political and historical critiques as well as any similarities between the Medieval world and today. Sorry if the poem seems anti-English I wasn't trying to be Pro-French either...I was trying to match character's anger into the peom and fit into the mood of the character. Enjoy.

Voice of the ancient enemy
To the Holy Roman Empire, the king of England and all the kingdoms of the world:


You have yet to learn diplomacy well

This is the story of France’s sorrowful tale

Before you ally yourselves with the warring countries,

You must know, how much of my countrymen

Have been killed by the arrow and bow

Stories are always mentioned and told

Of how the ‘great’ William of Normandy

Slain the ‘ancient enemy’ of old

This ancient enemy (England) has terrorized me

For nothing more than gold

The cries of my country (France) are not heard

To you our nagging is another tip of the iceberg

Religious war is the first reason for your quiet opinions

England’s invasion for its "inheritance" is not a justification



Isolated from the world by the voices of cannons

We are slain by the foreign battalion

When my countrymen lift their head and cry to thee

You shake your head pitifully

But you do not hold out a hand to me,

You give a hand to the ancient enemy!



Look at the realm of France,

And you will hear the Children cry

They are bent over their mothers’ graves

Made orphans when their parents died

Look no farther and you will soon see

The countryside and ‘wild’ Frontiers of France

Riddled with hunger and poverty

Don’t think our monks, nuns and priests have escaped this despondency

You sit in your house of worship blessed with a sanctuary,

The English have destroyed our churches, convents and abbeys

All this destruction has made us refugees

Yet you do not see us suffering nor do you hear our pleas



We are not barbarians or Mongols

But the English labels us as so

You believe the English soldiers’ lies

You refuse to learn or know, you turn your backs

Ignoring my country’s cries

My only question to you is why?

[Lacedaemonian]

I love the poem mate but chose not to vote in your poll, as I do not find war upsetting. Mussolini said it best, "War is man's natural environment".

[dustinzgirl]

War may be man's natural environment, but I dont think it is, traditionally speaking, woman's. Women have been left to pick up the pieces and forge out sonless, husbandless and fatherless lives for themselves and thier families. For me, it is definetly the refugees, but especially the children of war, with no future and no home.

I dont really care what the war is about, I am not that political. I care about the effects, the children left crying in the cold, little food, bad water, no sewer.

Now, for you poem, it is great. It shows the writers pain and anguish in his homeland's losses and tragedy. It is well written, the wording flows well.

[koma]

Not being funny or anything, but isn't your poll just a little bit on the silly side? Becoming a refugee would probably be upsetting to most people; so would seeing your country devastated; so would recieving one sided propaganda and so would witnessing death and destruction......
I'll say no more.

[Lacedaemonian]

Plus we all love a good war as long as it is not on our doorstep.

[Michael]

I only love a good war in fiction or in a movie, not in real life. Even without human intervention, life is harsh and suffering abounds. Then we have to kill each other too? You'd think we would all want to make this transition easier, not harder.

EDIT: Then again, I'm just another nutcase.

The poem is beautiful.