At Ground Level

At Ground Level

The two year old patted his dead mother’s cheek.
The baby crawled on the other side of her.
They cry,
Frightened and hungry.
Flies swarm the warm blood spreading across the Floor;
They crawl on the children’s clothing and faces.
Thunder of near explosions
Shake the remaining parts of the home.
The baby cries louder.
The two-year-old kisses his mother’s cold cheek.
The baby crawls across her mother’s body,
Slipping in the blood.
Hot wind blows dust and papers into the torn room.
Red, white, and blue papers.
In Arabic:
"Do not resist. Our soliers come to help."

Published at www.poetsagainstthewar.org

Read "Abuse and Fear Leave Scars On Children in Battered Iraqi Town" published April 6, 2003:

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/07/international/worldspecial/07SOUT.html?pa...

Posted by Reuters December 17, 2003

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Desperately trying to treat the bloodied victims of Iraq's daily carnage Wednesday, Doctor Mohammed Majeed said he has had enough. "Today I saw a 14-year-old girl die as her brain tissue spilled out. I give up. I want to leave Iraq," he told Reuters as mothers prayed over their sons in a grimy hospital ward.