this diary is dedicated to all who suffer because of war

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

image and poem below the fold

The parents of Yonatan Hadassi cry at his grave site in Kibbutz Merhavya, Israel Thursday July 20, 2006. Hadassi was killed the day before in an exchange of fire with Hezbollah guerrillas on the Lebanon side of the border.
(AP Photo/David Guttenfelder)


Etaf, the mother of Palestinian Hamas militant Mohammed Al Basheeti, left, and his sister Suha, wait for his body at the hospital in Deir El Balah in the Gaza Strip, Thursday, July 20, 2006. Al Basheeti was one of nine people, eight of them militants, killed on Wednesday during an Israeli military operation in the Mughazi refugee camp. During the army’s second day of an operation in the Mughazi refugee camp, Israeli aircraft on Thursday carried out two strikes against Palestinian militants, the army said. Palestinian medics said one militant was killed and at least six were wounded, one seriously.
(AP Photo/Pier Paolo Cito)
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Outside
by Michael Ryan  

 The dead thing mashed into the street
the crows are squabbling over isn’t
her, nor are their raucous squawks
the quiet cawing from her throat
those final hours she couldn’t speak.
But the racket irks him.
It seems a cruel intrusion into grief
so mute it will never be expressed
no matter how loud or long the wailing
he might do. Nor could there be a word
that won’t debase it, no matter
how kind or who it comes from.
She knew how much he loved her.
That must be his consolation
when he must talk to buy necessities.
Every place will be a place without her.
What people will see when they see him
pushing a shopping cart or fetching mail
is just a neatly dressed polite old man.

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note: I plan to post again on Monday, July24th. Thanks