Iraq - a poetic profile
Your head lies hard on the gravestone of your past
As the boot of the West bears down upon your neck,
Even as its hands try to heal you.
A corruption runs fever through your twitching flesh
Limbs flailing against each other,
And like rabid and cannibalistic lepers
Twist off whole rotting chunks
That will fall off and die or eat themselves.
Set on the stage of holy books and history
The blood of innocents blends and darkens the mystery.
A country in between is the country of Iraq
Between the rivers that sustain it and at the same time drain its refuse
Between the black ocean beneath it that may yet feed its hunger
And the religion hovering above it that keeps its mind in perpetual starvation.
At once the cradle of civilization and the grave of reason
Home of tribe and veil and scimitar and prayer
And now, perch and nest for the Eagle from the west.
Slow your choked and ragged chant
A golden gift has arrived
Borne on the wide shoulders of the children of Aristotle
It must be molded
Lest it is smashed, stolen and scattered under the rising dust of time.
What folly of faith led you to think that butchery could prevail
When computer keyboards are mightier by far than Kalashnikov or veil?
This Iraqi civilian volunteered to stand guard in a neighborhood decimated by fighting and where new construction was taking place. Terrorists have targeted new construction zones to kill those helping the coalition forces and to help slow the rebuilding. It often backfires - causing more and more people to get fed up with the criminals and terrorists holding the cities and villages hostage to their cruel game. It is said that 95 out of 100 Iraqi males between the ages of 10 and 40 can completely assemble an AK47 Kalashnikov rifle while only 1 in 100 has ever used a computer. That is now changing. Photo By Joe Kane
As the boot of the West bears down upon your neck,
Even as its hands try to heal you.
A corruption runs fever through your twitching flesh
Limbs flailing against each other,
And like rabid and cannibalistic lepers
Twist off whole rotting chunks
That will fall off and die or eat themselves.
Set on the stage of holy books and history
The blood of innocents blends and darkens the mystery.
A country in between is the country of Iraq
Between the rivers that sustain it and at the same time drain its refuse
Between the black ocean beneath it that may yet feed its hunger
And the religion hovering above it that keeps its mind in perpetual starvation.
At once the cradle of civilization and the grave of reason
Home of tribe and veil and scimitar and prayer
And now, perch and nest for the Eagle from the west.
Slow your choked and ragged chant
A golden gift has arrived
Borne on the wide shoulders of the children of Aristotle
It must be molded
Lest it is smashed, stolen and scattered under the rising dust of time.
What folly of faith led you to think that butchery could prevail
When computer keyboards are mightier by far than Kalashnikov or veil?
This Iraqi civilian volunteered to stand guard in a neighborhood decimated by fighting and where new construction was taking place. Terrorists have targeted new construction zones to kill those helping the coalition forces and to help slow the rebuilding. It often backfires - causing more and more people to get fed up with the criminals and terrorists holding the cities and villages hostage to their cruel game. It is said that 95 out of 100 Iraqi males between the ages of 10 and 40 can completely assemble an AK47 Kalashnikov rifle while only 1 in 100 has ever used a computer. That is now changing. Photo By Joe Kane
posted by Joe at Friday, October 08, 2004
4 Comments:
AbleKane,
Thanks for sharing what you do. Today's entry offers especially impressive words and a captivating photo.
a MBA grad student
i just want to say how much this Blog site means to me and that i wish this was actually in the news. this is something more people over here need to read...if you can't tell by my blog name i too am an objectivist. Any keep up the good work and i will continue to support your and all the troops efforts.
Joe;
I know this after several minutes of reading this over and over. It concentrates volumes of human experience and philosphy in a few short lines. And I will have to read it more.
Are you the author? I assume, but think I'd like to make sure the credit for this thoughtful piece is properly forwarded.
The pictures speaks several thousand words, too. Well done!
I like your blog. Wondering if you could comment on the email from WSJ reporter Farnaz Fassihi that has been circulating like mad over the past few days. If you haven't read it, here it is:
http://tinyurl.com/46j3s
Is this an accurate description of the situation over there?
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