Playlist of a Doomed Generation

Fear now for the young, 
So fixed on the streets. 
For there is no captain 
For this doomed youth, 
Just the grinding of metal on bone. 

The streets are their trenches, 
Their poppies spat from
Spray cans on a concrete canvass
And the playgrounds and dark corners bear 
All the bloody stains of their encounters. 

Their hearses are drawn 
By popping white horses, 
The crowds of mixed colour 
Shuffle to mixed verses 
Of grimy beats from shared playlists. 

Forgotten as quick as a fallen star, 
They are left behind like the others left behind. 
All that remains is an abandoned room, 
A tree stump, covered in coloured ribbons, 
And a sign saying: Goodbye, Son. 

Matthew McConaughey, American actor, was born today in 1969.

Wilfred Owen, English poet and soldier, died today in 1918.