HALLEB
I saw you.
You had just been murdered.
Laying asleep next to our children
in the one room that was still left.
You were bombed again
and you didn't even know it
(this time)
or that you were dead
(and so were the kids)
buried in the rubble
in the bed
against the wall not there
friends and strangers digging you out
with hope and anger and fear...
bomb blast dust covering everyone
alive and dead
walking and dead
living and dead
those same 9/11 white faces
those same pulverized chalk mouths
your arm sticks out
lilting and lifeless
(still delicate)
from a pile of cinder blocks
I had hauled from the quarry
to build the wall
that crushed your skull
your last thoughts
were just thoughts
because you didn't know
(this time)
that they were your last
and to know those thoughts
that you didn't know were your last
soon became my only desire
as I, too, died
As my legs gave way
and I fell
to my knees
as I could no longer support
the full weight
of my blinded eyes
nor the tragedy of God's late arrival
to some other place
and some other time
but clearly not here...
--akm
© Ara Mgrdichian
You had just been murdered.
Laying asleep next to our children
in the one room that was still left.
You were bombed again
and you didn't even know it
(this time)
or that you were dead
(and so were the kids)
buried in the rubble
in the bed
against the wall not there
friends and strangers digging you out
with hope and anger and fear...
bomb blast dust covering everyone
alive and dead
walking and dead
living and dead
those same 9/11 white faces
those same pulverized chalk mouths
your arm sticks out
lilting and lifeless
(still delicate)
from a pile of cinder blocks
I had hauled from the quarry
to build the wall
that crushed your skull
your last thoughts
were just thoughts
because you didn't know
(this time)
that they were your last
and to know those thoughts
that you didn't know were your last
soon became my only desire
as I, too, died
As my legs gave way
and I fell
to my knees
as I could no longer support
the full weight
of my blinded eyes
nor the tragedy of God's late arrival
to some other place
and some other time
but clearly not here...
--akm
© Ara Mgrdichian
