"You're an idealist...
     a pacifist...
     unrealistic."

Probably a compliment...
     but unfortunately
     not truly true.

I'd like to be idealistic...
     seeing a world
     free from militarism.

I'd like to be a pacifist...
     able to keep turning
     another cheek.

I'd like to be unrealistic...
     insisting on humanity
     laying down its weapons.

I lean that way...
     but some fault in me
     can't go the whole way.

If one nation is powerful
     I want it to be mine...
     And when tyrants brutalize
     I want them stopped.

And when I think of humans...
     I don't trust us.

Nevertheless I salute
     idealists, pacifists,
     unrealists.

They help the rest of us
     see what humankind
     has yet to achieve.

We complain that we live
     in a state which receives
     little military money.

Maybe we should be proud.

I wrote our Senator once...
     suggesting terms
     for approving
     the B-1 Bomber...

     "If they'll build it with plywood."

He never answered.

So they had to close some more
     plywood mills in Oregon.

I say
     if it doesn't help our economy
     why  build it?

I might have argued how
     radar can't detect
     a plywood airplane.

But I was afraid that might be enough
     to excite someone
     to build still another bomber!