Poetry: Generations

We were a generation that had never known war.
 To be born, raised,
 In a time of peace and prosperity,
 Instills a sense of invulnerability,
 A lack of awareness
 Of the fragility
 Of such idyllic things.
 To us, Vietnam was a story
 Told by old, haunted men,
 Tragic and terrible, certainly,
 But somehow removed.
 The Gulf War
 Little more than a brief memory.
 Too short and too early
 To be felt.
 So it was that,
 When the world broke,
 Its pieces ripping away
 Innocent fallacies,
 Fear slouched in.
 Creeping through fresh wounds,
 Carrying insidious infection.

We were a generation that had never known war
 And from that fear
 Was born a generation
 That has never known peace.