And when you said, Mr Clauswitz

War is politics by another means,
you gave
to something destined to fall
bloodied, and come limping back,
an equal footing,
a legitimate feel
to that which is nothing but
a failure of the politic;
a failure of the patience; of the memory;
of the foresight,
of all of us - not just the tyrant. So try this one on your dusty tongue -
Peace is politics,
                           by every means

Michael Smith is a Brussel-based writer with work published in numerous UK poetry magazines. See his poem In A London Park During Wartime published on Axis of Logic earlier this year.