Ode to a Dead Iraqi Boy

Ode to a Dead Iraqi Boy

Allen L Roland, Salon.com

Yesterday you were laughing

and playing with your sister

You knew nothing about war

You knew only that you loved

your sister and your parents

and your grandparents and of

course, your dog .

You were free, you were alive

You were gleefully chasing your

sister in the open field

when you heard the planes.

You looked up squinting into the sun

When you heard the first bomb

you began to run towards your home

aware of your mother screaming your name .

You never made it .

You were torn and shredded by an illegal

cluster bomb dropped by an illegal invading

force fighting an illegal war .

Conveniently swept, along with

countless others,

under a rug of

debris called

Collateral Damage .

Sleep peacefully little boy

I will take your outstretched hand

I will give you life with my words

For only poetry can strike deep enough

to give you breath again

For only poetry can join your innocent

heart with ours .

Perhaps these following words from Alice Walker

will touch the hearts of your American

perpetrators and the American public

who continue to condone this

illegal genocide ~ all under the false

banner of patriotism.

Thousands of feet below you

There is a a small boy

running from your bombs.

If he were to show up

at your mothers house

on a green Sea island

off the coast of Georgia

He'd be invited in for dinner.

Now, driven , you have

shattered his bones .

He lies steaming in

the desert

In fifty or sixty

or maybe one hundred

oily, slimy bits.

If you survive and return

to your island home

and your mother's gracious

table

where the cup of loving

kindness overflows

the brim

( and from which no one

in memory was ever

turned )

Gather yourself.

Set a place

for him.

ONLY LOVE UNITES AND HEALS

Allen L Roland

http://blogs.salon.com/0002255/2008/04/03.html