[A-List] To poets against the war

["Smith, Gerard" <gsmith@xxxxxxxxx>]

Title: To poets against the war

 
Thanks for the poem Jim.  Here's one for those poet/peacemakers whose newfound conscience still inspires a limited courage.

To Poets Against the War

        for Adnan Hamideh

 

Israeli incursions over his grandmother's house,

over the theatre where he watched American movies,

over the streets where he once threw rocks,

not at tanks or soldiers in anger or hatred,

only at chickens scratching circles in dust.

 

Bethlehem surrounded his childhood;

now surrounded by death his memories change:

with each message from home another loss,

not from old age in bed, nor with loved ones,

not from natural causes sudden or predictable.

 

Resolutions of condemnation mark his life;

decade after decade calls for peace,

decade after decade broken promises, non-compliance:

in the year of his birth cease-fire violations;

year after year excessive force, deportation, death.

 

Alarmed at the reoccupation of Palestinian cities,

the severe restrition on freedom of movement,

the humanitarian crisis faced by his people,

he reads UN proclamations that have no force

against terrorist fears and one democratic voice.

 

Around Rahmallah, Jenin, Hebron, and Gaza

a ghostly green line draws tighter, draws nearer;

around refugee camps will wires stretch taunt,

will fences turn gardens into ghettoes?

who will speak out against this war, this genocide?

                        Gerard Donnelly Smith