The lambs bleat in the desert
Some days the sun is kind and warm
On others it stirs the poison again
The villagers do not understand
the planes or the bombs
or the dust
The soldiers are getting tired now
the victory passed
the generals came and went
the winter wind cuts as deep for the
marine
as for the nomads
So they had come to a desert land
and bombed it
and after all it is still - just desert
with a few more holes.
and perhaps a trace
of poison dust in the
sand
taken home as souvenirs of war
deep in the soldiers' lungs
as it was in the Gulf before
but this time - maybe rather more.
Meanwhile in air-conditioned offices
all leather, steel and flags
the generals, politicians and executives
are making their shopping lists again
- more bombs, more deaths, more fame.
Their share portfolios grown
rich
these last four months
despite the recession
biting silent and deep
into other people's lives.
Little do they know
what the next 3 months holds for them
Oblivious to fate they plan
efficiently, logically
mathematically and ruthlessly
Feeling god-like again from flying their
eagles
in Afghanistan, and blowing desert
- into desert,
just for a pipeline
and a few more dirty, blood
stained bucks.
Their pride - so ruffled in September
has almost returned.
Yep - ready to kick arse again - you bet!
Somehow I don't think so.
Two shadows are rising from the past
in the calm between the storms.
The first moves silent, invisible,
almost untraceable from
the sand
in the wind and through the precious
water
into lungs and blood and bones and
balls
weaving its microscopic trail of
destruction
one cell at a time
the radiation from four American wars
The legacy of cancer is generous
it does not discriminate
between terrorists and heroes
or their children
or children's children.
The second shadow moves silently too
through neurones and synapses
through memories and pain
through hopes and fears
weaving its microscopic trail of
destruction
through the psyche
of the American Dream
in a million minds
From New York to the White House
no mind is untouched
from the widows to the Pentagon
and their widows and orphans
martyrs to the Empire
that lived by wealth and war
its creed? Just greed
From opposite sides of the world
both shadows rise
from the deserts of Iraq and Afghanistan
and the empty skyline of New York
one called uranium
the other transition
both the shades of Nemesis
This is the calm between the storms
but the next desert storm may be
more a hurricane as one after another
countries around the world
rise from the trance and delusions
that have kept them too long
in thrall to the masters of war.
If they have sowed their poison death
again
in Afghanistan as in Iraq
the haunting will start soon
the hunters become the hunted
as their war crimes past and present
are named at last for all the
world to see.
And back in loyal New York
the price of global mastery
is beginning to dawn
in the subconscious
of a million minds or far, far more.
All the weapons in the world
all the high technology of death
could not save
their families and friends last fall
All the money in the world
cannot bring them back again.
Somewhere soon a tiny whisper
may be heard in Brooklyn
echoed quietly in Manhattan
next time perhaps
- we should make love
- not war.
And as the ice melts
and the first bereaved flowers
bloom again in Central Park
maybe around March 11th
that whisper may spread
to a murmur
and then a shout
and then a roar.
Then every General and politician
crowing over new clouds of death in Iraq
will realise
their fatal mistake - too late
caught between their war crimes
and a new American revolution
in their own back yard.
Hush friends
trust Nemesis.
The curse is cast
- they cast it on themselves.
Terrorists have no purpose any
more.
They shattered the delusions last fall
The echoes will do the rest
already far advanced
in their patriotic subversion
no alien hand in sight.
And when the analysts
decipher this message
sent in peace
and sadness
to all the bereaved
from Washington to Basra
and Prizren to Kabul
at last
they may begin to understand
the writing on the wall.
They have just 6 weeks left
to stabilise their own
traumatised and neglected nation
It will be political suicide
to start another war
next month or anytime this year
in Iraq or anywhere.
Afon Clearwen
(Thank you for the thought
Felicity. Please
connect).