Anti-war poem

[timmalthe]

Does anyone know which poem contains the line "don't open that box, it's war" ? My mother thinks its by C Day-Lewis , and she thought it was part of the poem "Will it be so again", but the phrase doesn't appear in that (at least the text of it I got on the web)

[mxyzptlk]

Hope this answers your question

by Lascelles Abercrombie
       Recited by John Denver on his album "Poems, Prayers & Promises"


Once upon a time, in the land of Hush-A-Bye,
Around about the wondrous days of yore,
They came across a kind of box
Bound up with chains and locked with locks
And labeled "Kindly do not touch; it's war."

A decree was issued round about, and all with a flourish and a shout
And a gaily colored mascot tripping lightly on before.
Don't fiddle with this deadly box,
Or break the chains, or pick the locks.
And please don't ever play about with war.

The children understood.  Children happen to be good
And they were just as good around the time of yore.
They didn't try to pick the locks
Or break into that deadly box.
They never tried to play about with war.

Mommies didn't either; sisters, aunts, grannies neither
'Cause they were quiet, and sweet, and pretty
In those wondrous days of yore.
Well, very much the same as now,
And not the ones to blame somehow
For opening up that deadly box of war.

[mxyzptlk]

Part 2 - full poem too long for one reply

But someone did.  Someone battered in the lid
And spilled the insides out across the floor.
A kind of bouncy, bumpy ball made up of guns and flags
And all the tears, and horror, and death that comes with war.

It bounced right out and went bashing all about,
Bumping into everything in store.
And what was sad and most unfair
Was that it didn't really seem to care
Much who it bumped, or why, or what, or for.

It bumped the children mainly.  And I'll tell you this quite plainly,
It bumps them every day and more, and more,
And leaves them dead, and burned, and dying
Thousands of them sick and crying.
'Cause when it bumps, it's really very sore.

Now there's a way to stop the ball.  It isn't difficult at all.
All it takes is wisdom, and I'm absolutely sure
That we can get it back into the box,
And bind the chains, and lock the locks.
But no one seems to want to save the children anymore.

Well, that's the way it all appears, 'cause it's been bouncing round
        for years and years
In spite of all the wisdom wizzed since those wondrous days of yore
And the time they came across the box,
Bound up with chains and locked with locks,
And labeled "Kindly do not touch; it's war."

[timmalthe]

mxyxptlk, thanks a million for that. It's exactly what we were looking for. There was a program on RTE (Ireland) radio the week of the invasion of Iraq in 2003 where this poem (and probably "will it be so again" by Day-Lewis were read out, and my mother has been looking for it since. You're a star. Cheers.