Omran est notre enfant
(Omran is our child)
(Omran is our child)
Oh Omran -I wipe the dusty
blood from your face with a
clean,cool, white cloth- gently
rock you in my arms and soak
you in tears of guilt admission
When I saw you sitting there -
bewildered touching blood -
tousled hair - dusted with the ash
of adult hell unleashed in the name
of adult hell unleashed in the name
of some cause or another - When I
saw you, my eyes scurried across
the page piteously scanning to see
the page piteously scanning to see
if "we' or "they" were to blame - oh
Aleppo angel staring soul into soul -
stopping me with the searing shame
of all innocents. In your implacable
stare I knew as surely as if you had
pointed your bloodied fingers at me -
there is no we or they - All of us have
your blood on our hands as we scroll
screens and wipe newsprint - and sit, sit, sit -
within walls of our collective failed protectorate
We must stand - each and all of us - speak your
silence -until all children look to the sky expecting
only sunshine, raindrops,snowflakes-until all children
sleep secure- their unexploded world softly breathing -
I kiss your eyes with my bleeding heart and surrender
to the dust of all souls-including my own that contribute
to the reigns of terror - collapsing the sky your blood un-
washable from my hands-my heart -Oh Omran, abandoned
son of us all -We see you -See our shame writ in the tousled
bewildered innocence of blood that limns our legacy in the
dust of our collective immorality... "We? ... or "They?" there
is no difference in the emptiness of your disappointed stare.
It is on us all
the shame....
and solution
- peace. -
