5th Anniversary Poem - Moon Over Bagdad

[Oscar]

Moon Over Baghdad

A poem written by Elaine Hughes a few hours after Bush attacked Iraq on March 19, 2003

O Moon, so silent and blue as you hang low in my southern view
O Moon, I know you've seen such horrors as you circle this globe;
Flares of fire as fighters destroy countless innocents in their path
Towards decapitation of the “evil one”;
“Pillars and plumes of smoke rising above the darkened streets” come the reports
But cameras are not seeing the children: the blood, the broken bodies, the broken minds -
They are “Over There” – the collaterals!

O Moon, forgive us for showing our lowest, basest darkness,
“To shock and to awe”, say the despised attackers.
Are you shocked, O Moon? Are you in awe, O Moon?
Or simply struck dumb by the gore?

Forgive me, O Moon, as I sit in my safe, dark silence and stare
At the look on your face.
I am thankful you cannot tell me what you’ve seen.
O Moon, forgive us! FORGIVE ME!


Written by Elaine M. Hughes at Ty Bach, Saskatchewan -
0320 hrs, March 19, 2003 - a few hours after Bush attacked Baghdad.