War Protest - 4 Years in Iraq
Yesterday we stood among hundreds along
East Avenue in the cold, holding signs,
No More War - Thou Shalt Not Kill,
imploring our government to bring
the troops back home from Iraq.
One sign carried the remarkable death
tolls. One read simply: "Wage peace."
We sang "Gonna lay down my sword
and shield . . down by the riverside..."
and other songs of hope and determination.
At one point, the groups on the opposite side
of East Avenue started calling across,
"Tell me what Democracy is!" and we called
back: "This is what Democracy is!"
over and over, over and over.
When we began to sing John Lennon's
"All we are saying . . is give peace a chance,"
my throat started to close up,
forcing ancient tears to spill out
again in this too-familiar place.
All the churches in the area were letting out
and it appeared to me that the vast majority
of passengers and drivers were waving with
their fingers formed into the sign of peace
or giving us a "thumbs up" sign at least.
Who is this man who wants this war to continue
so badly and what will be the price in lives lost,
in limbs lost, in cost, in nightmares, in world
mistrust, in our future, in our karmic debt?
1 comment:
Hey there, this is Zoe from the Taos writing salon. Love your blog and will continue to read it.
I have one here - about life in Thailand, although unfortunately I haven't updated it for a while (will do so....honest!)
I had to comment on this poem, which is especially relevant to me right now. Ive recently returned from a trip to Vietnam where I visited some of the 'usual' sights in HCMC - the War Remants Museum and Reunification Palace. I saw a lot of old footage of the US's reasons for sending troops to Vietnam. Can I say thatit felt like serious deja vu?
Seeing photos of charred children's bodies from bombing made me ask myself 'how could this have happened?' and then ask myself 'how is this still happening' and what can i do to stop it?
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