Iraq War Grief Daily Witness (photo) Day 158

this diary is dedicated to all who suffer because of war and other disasters

cross-posted at DailyKos, Booman Tribune, European Tribune, and My Left Wing.

images and poems below the fold

In this photograph taken by Army Sgt. Walt Gaya, a sniper who was wounded in Iraq and now hopes to become a photojournalist, U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Eddyboy Mesa holds an Iraqi child injured when a roadside bomb exploded in Mozel, Iraq in February 2005.
(AP Photo/Courtesy Walt Gaya)

Opening Words
by Denise Levertov

I believe the earth
exists, and
in each minim mote
of its dust the holy
glow of thy candle.
Thou
unknown I know,
thou spirit,
giver,
lover of making, of the
wrought letter,
wrought flower,
iron, deed, dream.
Dust of the earth,
help thou my
unbelief. Drift
gray become gold, in the beam of
vision. I believe with
doubt. I doubt and
interrupt my doubt with belief. Be,
beloved, threatened world.
Each minim
mote.
Not the poisonous
luminescence forced
out of its privacy,
The sacred lock of its cell
broken. No,
the ordinary glow
of common dust in ancient sunlight.
Be, that I may believe. Amen.

– – –

Walt Gaya stands in his home in Olympia, Wash., Sept. 20, 2005, holding a camera similar to the one he used to take blank-and-white photos of his experiences as an Army sniper during a recent 10-month tour of duty in Iraq. Gaya, who suffered an eye injury during his time in Iraq, says the wound will not deter him from his dream of becoming a documentary photojournalist when he officially leaves the military next year. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)