Ode to a Kurdish Child
written by: Sue Gratton
@SueMGratton
Little child lying still
Among the lifeless corpses there
Your life is dead
Over with—
Too soon for me, who curious, stares;
Disbelieving
And in shock,
Upon your picture here.
Who are you?
And how old?
Where, oh where can your mother be?
Can it be, she’s there with you,
Crushed beneath the bodies so?
And did you sisters and brothers have,
And do they share your grave?
Open, green and crowded—
Reminding me of a history—
Of a Holocaust I thought was dead—
Of an ugliness that died ago—
Of an anger I’ll never outgrow—
Of the endless tears
I’ve shed in secret;
The tears I shed for them—
I shed them now for you.
NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR:
Inspired by a picture in Time magazine, January 16, 1989.
Susan is a US Army veteran, who is homeless and unemployed, currently the caregiver to a disabled parent for the past 6 years. With all the time she has, she is trying to follow her three dreams--art, writing and photography.
Latest posts by Sue Gratton (see all)
- Ode To A Kurdish Child - November 21, 2016
