Monday, March 19, 2007

War Protest - 4 Years in Iraq

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:

Zoe said...

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?