What have we learnt? Having lost all those

mothers and fathers – innocent bystanders –

to someone else’s misconceptions,

the news is still bleak. What have we really learnt?

Saddam had something, somewhere, maybe;

flames spread easily inside a tinder box;

David Kelly liked to go for walks;

the prayers of millions often go unanswered

but, of course, God bless America;

everyone is now a qualified chemist.

Conclusion: jet fuel can’t melt steel beams.

45-minute document airily

proves the dangers of information –

loose accuracy readily changes minds.

Hearts are more steadfast with resolve, un-

deterring security resolutions.

A vacuum emerged from the fallout,

bringing no blossom but a volatile change

of radical proselytising….

Nothing is an absolute reality.

Where eagles dare, all is permitted

upon lone and level sands so far away.

Belief rends wide the doors of heaven

for those with blinkered faith, thy will being done.

And yet the world grows ever smaller

with claims to build a wall, to leave common man

behind – a catalogue of errors

that, with heads hung low, we’ll seek repentance for.

But what have we learnt? We can still love,

despite being hated indiscriminately.

Ian Miller 2016