taking
shelter in Absurdity
knowing
nothing wanting to know nothing
unbelieving
allowing the story to be told in
gross cartoon
(wild
harp voices lost in the screeling wind)
criticism
hidden behind uncomfortable laughter
at the
vagaries of hot air balloons
floating
above the idiot parade
cords
held by those who write apologia
for the
horrors of history
no, they
will not hear that wild music
skirling
among the forests
wildernesses
better to remain unexplored
cut down those trees! for therein dwells nightmare!
denude
the land and stop those voices
that will
only make you cry and fear
and maybe
know the truth
of what's
been done in your name
laugh at
the cartoon buffoons!
laugh
until the door crashes in in the night!
laugh for
that baby face down in the sand
that girl child twisted
broken by the side of the road
abandoned with love
by those who must ever move on
laugh for
small bits remotely recognizable
as part
of a human who was recently loving and laughing
playing
games with his friends
with her friends
laugh at
the poignant piles of dirty rags
once
someone's mother sister daughter aunt
beloved
never to
climb again out of that muck
churned
up by thousands upon thousands
resolute
feet plodding to who knows where
passing
yellow light laughing from windows
the bonds
still unbroken
the children allowed to remember they're young
the
lights of your lanterns are torture
your torch is no beacon to beckon
no more than a moth to a flame
to self immolation
diving
into abyss to escape abbatoir
blind
drunk with Freedom from all that held us
honoring Place or Homeland
no room
no time to bury the dead
my son
ran off to join one of the militias
we didn't
ask questions; it's safer not to know
he said
he could no longer stay to see life blown apart
and not
answer
left his
brothers in charge, ages 14 and 10
children with long
guns
in the
end not proof against death rained from the sky
not proof
against mines underfoot
the treasures
of our homeland for centuries
millennia!
smashed to dust
bombs and
hammers, insurgents and kings
all sides
destroying everything in their path
us
our children
schools
homes shops, rubble
and the
blood of the dead feeds the soil
i would
live there
i Would!
in the
shadow of the ruins
near the
graves of my parents and those of the children
we had
time to bury
and my
husband not there
taken away by one of the militias
he never came home
those we
could gather
sisters
brothers in-laws cousins and their children
anyone
left alive
some of the elders stayed
not to slow us down
we
gathered our things and began this long walk
past your
warm butter yellow lit house
and the
unknowing laughter within
the welcome stops at the door
when you
teach your children of this holocaust
remember
these nameless ones passing your gate
o we have names but you will not know them
they are writ in the stars
and will prick your dreams
never let you forget
though ages pass away
