Grief doesn’t travel very far away,
Scratch the surface and it’s all back again.
(Triple car bomb strikes Baghdad)
You see, love is like that.
(Darfur Genocide and Ellison's Protest)
If you love someone they’re either
Gone a long distance for a short while
Or a long while… But grief,
Grief doesn’t travel very far away.
(Holocaust Timeline)
Winter's Soldier
Immense shining chariots thundered across the heavens.
Ghostly hooves burst and collapsed the living homes
And the shock filled gasps of children could be heard...
Bosnia-Herzegovina (1992-1995) 200,000
...Years later a dole of doves is all that holds the world
And beneath the sand the shards of bone shift down
Making room for the next barren scratch of living’s cage.
Rwanda (1994) 800,000
Giant, fortified wheels of chain roll upon the streets now.
Death weary boots slog behind, eyes winked with caution,
Heavy loads of mourning strapped upon the back.
Pol Pot Cambodia (1975-1979) 2,000,000
Such little gladness advances along this guarded pace
As something sinister skulks their heavy shadows
Moving in unison; each glance, each gun, each breath.
Nazi Holocaust (1938-1945) 6,000,000
It stays upon them like a salutation from a viper’s kiss;
Throttling the lungs into a desperate breathing thing
That bribes the senses and kidnaps affection.
Rape of Nanking (1937-1938) 300,000
They cannot stay there knowing it surrounds them
And brings forth nothing worth killing for at their hands
Or dying for in their hearts.
Liberated mouths have turned downward with lips
That smell of death’s foul oppression.
Stalin's Forced Famine (1932-1933) 7,000,000
Before the lurking beast might taste their dread
Or the fanged tempest descend with blinding dust
The winter soldier needs turn homeward;
Ahead of the treachery that smells of grief,
Ahead the echoes of a child’s gasp and mother’s plea.
Armenians in Turkey (1915-1918) 1,500,000
Wounds may throb and ache and even heal,
...Death is not made that way.
Native American Genocide (1492-...) 12 million
Filipino-American War (1899-1902) 1.4 million
Ongoing Genocide of Palestinians (1948-?) the.uncounted
Ongoing Genocide in Iraq (2003- ?) 650,000 to 1,000,000
Grief doesn’t travel very far away...
© 2007 mrp/thepoetryman
Greek word 'genos' (race) with the Latin word 'cide' (killing).
