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 poem below the fold
The mother of a kidnapped eight-year-old Iraqi boy holds his photo as she weeps in her home in Baghdad December 7, 2005. Gunmen kidnapped Karam Salam Jerjis, the son of a guard at Saddam Husseins trial, in front of his house in Baghdad Wednesday morning, Iraqi police said. It was not immediately clear if the abduction was related to the trial, where the former Iraqi leader has been accused of committing crimes against humanity.
REUTERS/Thaier Al-Sudani
Kathleen Wei, Ed Loney, center and Matthew Loney, siblings of peace activist James Loney, who is being held hostage in Iraq, hold a news conference in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., Wednesday, December 7, 2005.
(AP PHOTO/CP/Fred Chartrand)
Death in the Afternoon
by Ángel González
translated by David Ignatow
Of the hundreds of deaths that inhabit me,
this one today bleeds the least.
It’s the death that comes with the afternoons,
when the pale shadows grow longer,
and contours collapse
and the mountains show themselves.
Then someone passes hawking
his merchandise under my window,
where I lean out to see
those streetlamps that are still unlit.
Shadows cross the ashes of the streets
without leaving tracks, men that pass
who do not come to me and do not stay
with their lonely soul on their backs.
The daylight escapes toward the west.
The night air comes in before time,
and a bitter, confused fear, almost
pain, hardly hope, reaches me.
Everything that tied me to life
becomes untied, becomes distance,
goes farther off, disappears at last,
and I’m a dead man,
…and no one raises me.
– – –
read Ilona’s important diary at MLW – Returning Vet PTSD – One Soldier’s Story
view the pbs newshour silent honor roll (with thanks to jimstaro at booman.)
take a private moment to light one candle among many (with thanks to TXSharon)
support Veterans for Peace
support the Iraqi people
support the Campaign for Innocent Victims in Conflict (CIVIC)
support CARE
support the victims of torture
remember the fallen
support Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors – TAPS
support Gold Star Families for Peace
support the fallen
support the troops
support Iraq Veterans Against the War
support Military families Speak Out
support the troops and the Iraqi people
read This is what John Kerry did today, the diary by lawnorder that prompted this series
read Riverbend’s Bagdhad Burning
read Dahr Jamail’s Iraq Dispatches
read Today in Iraq
witness every day
Note: I inadvertently made an error in not crediting Cheryl Bellus as the photographer in this diary originally posted on October 10.