NC Peace Resource Center

Mother in Wartime

As if it were some noble thing,
She spoke of sons at war,
As if freedom’s cause
Were pled anew at some heroic bar,
As if the weapons used today
Killed with great élan,
As if technicolor banners flew
To honor modern man—
Believing everything she read
In the daily news,
(No in-between to choose)
She thought that only one side won,
Not that both might lose.
-Langston Hughes

Pastel drawing of Hughes
 by Winold Reiss