Robert Frost, 'The Fear of Man'

[duathir.livejournal.com]

The Fear of Man

As a girl no one gallantly attends
Sets forth for home at midnIght from a friend's
She tries to make it in one catch of breath,
And this is not because she thinks of death.
The city seems in-toppling from a height,
But she can trust it not to fall tonight.
(It will be taken down before it falls.)
There scarcely is a light in all its walls
Except beside a safe inside a bank
(For which assurance Mammon is to thank).
But there are little street lights she should trust
So jewel-steady in the wind and dust.
Her fear is being spoken by the rude,
And having her exposure misconstrued.
May I in my brief bolt across the scene
Not be misunderstood in what I mean.

By Robert Frost

Cheryl Daytec, 'Footnote to the Gaza Assaults'

[duathir.livejournal.com]

Cross-post from war_poetry:

The Children of Gaza, Lying in Pools of Their Own Blood
(Footnote To The Gaza Bombings II)

They never heard
the soothing sound of music
In the Palestine air
Their days and nights were filled
With rattling guns
And muffled weeping of parents
They saw the shape of freedom
In the occasional flight
Of birds in their skies cast
In the gloom of violence

As other children waited
for Santa Claus’s gifts
The specter of their dreams
Levitated from their bodies
As they fell to the bullets
Of power that knows not
A terrorist wielding a gun
From a child playing
With a doll or a toy car

Their bodies have gone
To cemeteries
Or in rubbles
Beyond
The reach of shovels and hands
But their dream for freedom
Did not join them in the graves
It clings thick to the air of doom

Their last cries
Not comprehending the bloodbath
Their desire to soar free
Like eagles
Found their way into our pens
From ashes of carnage,
The dream will surge
Like time-worn slavery
Cutting loose from its chains
One day,
The world will know
Who The Chosen are among us
The lie we cradled
In ignorance
Will be clear as day
The graveyard full of infants
Shouts the truth

God would not arm His
people with bombs and guns
To slaughter the innocent

By Cheryl Daytec