When blackness rose from all directions
Suffocating, from sea, air and earth
thundering leaders threatened war
foreign politicians from across seas and lands
Threatening a land that posed them no threat
WAR! Inescapable, inevitable war
Fear of repercussions crossing the border spread
Fear ruling every heart, grew, encompassed
Faith, belief, good sense, forgotten, uprooted
By primal fear, days grew dark and nights darker
Pictures seen long ago in memories surfaced
Images of a Kurdish population decimated
Fleeing men, women, children on hillsides, lying dead
As helicopters sprayed them with chemical deaths
A panicked people fled, paying exorbitant fares
Leaving behind fruits of a lifetime's hard work,
Leaving behind their homes, jobs, memories,
as helicopters patrolled and practice sirens wailed,
and those who stayed, expecting the worse, prepared
taping every inlet, windows, doors and A/C vents
emptying supermarket shelves, they hoarded
fixing basements as refuge from raining death
and in all this reigning madness a group of women
diverse religions, countries, traditions but sharing
a deep unshakeable belief in God, stayed with faith
no windows taped, nor food hoarded as the assault began
by day and night the sirens roared and warned
they sustained and strengthened each other's faith
as worried families called and begged their return
they trusted God, they smiled, they prayed.
Not imprudent or reckless, just strong in faith
till the last launcher was destroyed in the desert
and they thanked God for His Mercy and Grace.
Author notes
Not one of my best but I told it to a friend and perhaps the time has come to share it with more people.
When America attacked Iraq, Iraq retaliated by attacking Kuwait where the American forces were based, with randomly fired surface to surface missiles.
Written June 6th, 2005
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I have tears in my eyes right now in remembrance... As I sat and watched America bomb Iraq on March 20, 2003, (it is strange that I recall the exact date) I shuddered, wailed and was totally lost at the destruction, and devastation. I wanted so badly to look away but I stayed glued to the TV... crying like an infant that was frightened by the bombing sounds. I still have ambivilant feelings regarding this war but pray for the soldiers on both sides. They have families, loved ones, children... It brings me to mind of Viet Nam, where I lost a cousin and my brother was spared. I pray that the madness ceases but I honestly feel that things will get worse before they get better. My prayers are for PEACE with this New Year. I am always hopeful!
Your poem is so very powerful. It makes me uneasy for I do not understand how we solve problems, conflicts...by killing in mass. Excellent, descriptive work here Pari. I can feel so much intensity in your words. I can relate to the depth of your anguish over all this. I am on your side.
Blessings & Love,
Renee
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good job
War sucks. Let's face it.
This is a great write. Too often people flee from evil without confronting it. There's a quote about that from somebody: "the only thing required for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing." (or words to that effect)
Anyway, good job. -
Powerful
I like this poem Pari. Your well chosen words invoke strong, vivid images. To quote Mao Tse-Tung, "Politics is war without bloodshed while war is politics with bloodshed." Very profound words in my opinion. I much prefer the first option. War is craziness. No one ever wins, not really... what price are victors willing to pay to be claimed the victors? Were you one of those women? -
Thanks
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Awsomeeeeee
i really liked this peom I like the beginnig it sounds really cool when you first start to read it and as you go on it gets more interresting as yo go.I really liked it because you rymed sometimes and then other times it rymed and sounded really good...but this peom doesnt have to ryme casue it has flow...and grace... I am christian and I belive in God and he does work his grace and I ReAAAAAAALLLLYYYYY love this peom,,,and I just want you to know that you are very gifted and you need to keep writting b/c this will take you far in life -
I still applaud this one.
I must say that I had to come back to read again because it was indeed a most powerful and interesting write to read. You did really well on this my friend. You are to be commended. -
Faith is such a powerful tool of committment...This is some write you have layer here especially, the ending, which captures the essence, in my view "they trusted God, they smiled, they prayed.
Not imprudent or reckless, just strong in faith
till the last launcher was destroyed in the desert
and they thanked God for His Mercy and Grace"
God is Merciful..Stay Blessed Pari Ali
Thanks for featuring~
ICULookn
Edited on Jun 06, 10:04 p.m. because ''. -
oh Pari...how very powerful...what a story! war can bring out the worst...and the best...the weaknesses and the strengths...in people...i think this write demonstrates that so well.
UB
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potent
What a powerfully worth while write. It is something that affects us all and turning our backs on it will not make it go away thankyou for the reminder. -
wow wow wow I am at a lose for words. it brought back alot of memories. This was a powerful peice.I am glad you shared this was a heck of a write.
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powerful
I am glad you decided to post this. It is a powerful piece. To me it not only depicts Iraq, but also, England under attack by Germany, Hiroshima, Vietnam.
When ever there is a war I this of the blessed women and children. Powerful piece -
Powerful and well written..
Great job..
God bless you
Dellza -
A brave write here.
I commend you for posting this write because so many people fail to see what it really was all about. I have heard this said many times from a friend of mine that loves the Iraqi people and he is a Lt. Colonel having been through both Wars. I knew exactly what you are talking about and it was not hard to read. I have read other references as well. Indeed faith is what sustains you when your feet are held to the fire. I salute them as well. -
Very very political.
I liked this poem alot, it really depicted the violence and the whole origin of whats going on, excellent job.
Crackertl82 -
Hi war is always destructive in all ways I wonder so often why does man need war so much, why covert that which is not his and kill to get it, I don't think he will ever change, great write, all the best my friend, hugs Di
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excellent
Oh God ! the third stanza describes what my family went through during the gulf war. I was 5 years at that time but I can remember how horrible the situation was! O how much I hate violence
I wanted to study and live there but after the war my mom refused to come back to Kuwait. I can not blame her ,I mean there were too many people who got killed including some of our acquaintances.
But I am not sure whether u r talking about the ongoing war or about the Iraqi-kuwaiti war that was 12 years back .
I think it was a well-written piece
thanx for sharing
Nadi
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Touching
Faith is all we have in this time of unrest..I find it so hard that politicians can make the decisions that pronounce war...but it is always the innocents that suffer. My heart bleeds for the greed and aggression I see... When will mankind learn that to survive, they must first learn tolerance and love. We can all learn from each other, there is always a bad influence in every culture, but there is also a very caring element in each culture who's only ambition in life is peace. I applaud this poem/story as I know it to be true and told with a pure heart.
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If only our faith truly could keep us safe in this world. I hate war and violence, death and pain. I love your poem. The strenght of those whose faith helped them through that horrible time. You must be willing to risk all in the name of faith. I love this poem. I could really see people taping their windows, being scared to death, of death.
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Ah Pari I'm so glad you wrote this. When you told me it was hard to understand and I didn't really feel it.
I cried and am now after reading this; you describe it all so well.
This has left powerful images in my mind that I shall not forget in a hurry and neither should we.
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The kurds was a long time ago.... when Kuwaitis thought that Iraq would attack them they were afraid that it would use chemical weapons, the pictures of the kurds being killed by chemical weapons all those years ago still haunt the minds and one sees them in the minds eye when thinking of the threat of chemical attacks....
this was in the beginning of the preseant iraq war when there were missile launchers in the Iraq desert that attacked Kuwait once the american attack was launched on Iraq. It took them soem time to find and destroy all the launchers till then we all faced a threat here, luckily it wasn't as we all the TV channels and papers had warned. -
This was really well written, very powerful, one thing confused me though, there is a war going on w/ iraq now, but this sounded like the gulf war because of the kurds being decimated and stuff, so maybe you should clarify which war.
~Laila~ -
Thanks Margaret as you have put your finger on the message of the poem, I am terrible at punctuation, I typed it on word and there were no red lines for the spellings please send me an im with corrections if you have a moment, it is not the best of poems but it still is an important message to share. perhaps I should add two lines to it I am not very happy with the ending either
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I think you have placed your finger on the essential struggle of this century, between fear and faith. The twentieth century was made hideous by the political lines and aggression stemming from fear, and now more people are saying that there is a better way to live. Peace may need to be guarded with military strength at times, but it is the resolute attitude of ordinary people that keeps fear from getting the upper hand.
You have some spelling and punctuation that I would change.
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