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Lamentations
This is my book of lamentations.
Herein are recorded the sufferings
Of my children in Ethiopia, Bosnia
Rwanda, Chechnaya:
Our cities have fallen
Our walls are in ruins
Our houses in ashes
Our bodies mutilated
Our children wander the streets
Their legs bowed
Their stomachs swollen
Their eyes staring...
Locked in dungeons
Abandoned, starving.
Our enemies rejoice
Look down from the hills
And sneer at our sufferings.
Our voices grow hoarse.
Why do travelers on the road
Pass us unheeding?
Why has this plague
Been visited upon us?
We have sinned grievously
But are our sins greater than
Bandits, denouncers,
Slayers of children,
Power mad war lords?
Have the Gods deserted the mountains?
Have they entered the valleys
To make war on each other?
Do they too pass unheeding,
Rejoice in the slaughter?
Do they search the stars
For creatures more faithful?
Do they enter the earth
To bury our offerings?
I summon them to hear
This book of lamentations
The cries of my people
In Ethiopia, Bosnia
Rwanda, Chechnaya...
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