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As he was ramming his tank into Iraq, Sgt. Sprague felt disappointment: "These people got nothing," he told a Guardian reporter. "We've been all the way from Basra to here and I ain't seen one shopping mall or fast food restaurant. Even in a little town like ours, you got a McDonald's at one end and a Hardee's at the other." So while he is helping to destroy the cradle of civilization, Sgt. Sprague dreams of shopping malls and McDonalds. To each his dreams... But sadly, the sergeant's dream will likely come true: Macdonalds in Baghdad... --- And here are two poems about Iraq, Baghdad, and the US invaders... --Elga http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2003/634/bsc13.htm (more poems here) <QUOTE ON> A personal song By Saadi Youssef Is it Iraq? Blessed is the one who said I know the road which leads to it; Blessed is the one whose lips uttered the four letters: "Iraq, Iraq, nothing but Iraq." [12] (1) Distant missiles will applaud; Soldiers armed to the teeth will storm us; Minarets and houses will crumble; Palm trees will collapse under the bombing; The shores will be crowded With floating corpses. We will seldom see Al-Tahrir Square In books of elegies and photographs; Restaurants and hotels will be our roadmaps And our home in the paradise of shelter: MacDonalds' KFC Holiday Inn; And we will be drowned Like your name, O Iraq, "Iraq, Iraq, nothing but Iraq" London, March 15, 2003 (1) The line is from the well-known poem, Unshudat Al- Matar (Rainsong), by the pioneering Iraqi poet Badr Shakir Al-Sayyab (1926-1964). <QUOTE OFF> <QUOTE ON> Salute to Baghdad By Adonis Adonis I Put your coffee aside and drink something else, Listening to what the invaders say: With Heaven's blessing We are directing a preventive war, Carrying the water of life >From the banks of the Hudson and the Thames So that it may flow in the Tigris and Euphrates. A war against water and trees, Against birds and children's faces, A fire on the ends of sharp nails Comes out of their hands, The machine's hand taps their shoulders. The air weeps, Carried on a reed called earth; The soil becomes red and black >From tanks and launchers; On missiles and flying whales, In a time improvised by shrapnel, In space, volcanoes spitting their lava, Stagger, O Baghdad, on your pierced sides; The invaders were born smoothly In the lap of a four-legged wind >From their private skies, As it prepares the world To be swallowed by the whale Of their sacred language. It's true, as the invaders say, This mother-sky Only devours its own children. Do we, therefore, have to believe, O invaders, That there are prophetic missiles, Carrying invasion, That civilisation is only born out of depleted uranium? Old-new ashes under our feet: Do you know which abyss you have reached O you lost feet? Our deaths live in the arms of the clock, And our sorrows are about to sink their claws In the bodies of stars. O what a country this is: Silence is its name, And there is only pain; There it is, filled with graves, Some still, some moving. O what a country this is: A land swimming in fire, Its people like green logs. O how enchanting you are, Sumerian stone, Gilgamesh still beats in your heart. There, he is about to disembark, Searching for life, But his guide this time Is nuclear dust. We have shut the windows, After wiping the glass with newspapers Chronicling the invasion; We have laid our last roses on the graves: Where do we go? Even the road does not believe our steps Anymore. II A homeland is about to forget its name. Why did the damask rose teach me How to sleep in Syria's lap? The killer has eaten the bread of song. Poet, do not ask! For nothing will wake this earth Except rebellion! London, April 1, 2003 Poems translated by Sinan Antoon <QUOTE OFF> _______________________________________________ Sent via the discussion list of the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq. To unsubscribe, visit http://lists.casi.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/casi-discuss To contact the list manager, email casi-discuss-admin@lists.casi.org.uk All postings are archived on CASI's website: http://www.casi.org.uk