A Simple Paradigm

a poem inspired by a quote from Robert Fisk's The Great War for Civilization: The Conquest of the Middle East

Photo by Craig Manners on Unsplash

Listen to an audio recording of A Simple Paradigm:

We bomb. They suffer.
—	Robert Fisk, from The Great War for Civilization: The Conquest of the Middle East*

We bomb.
They die,
blown to pieces, 
shredded, torn 
limb from limb.
They burn to death.
They bleed to death.
Their mutilated bodies
rot in the hot sun,
the scorched air, 
the blood-soaked sand.

We bomb.
They lose.
They lose their homes.
their schools, their hospitals,
their mosques, their land, 
their dreams, their future.
Children lose their parents.
Parents lose their children.
Some lose their entire family.
Many lose everything.

We bomb.
They flee 
cities and towns on fire
in crowded vehicles
on roads open to attack.
They shelter 
in refugee camps,
in flimsy plastic tents
among dust, ash and rubble.
They scavenge
through toxic filth
for no fresh food,
no clean water,
no medicine.
They have
nowhere safe.

It’s a simple paradigm:
We bomb. They suffer.
Except those who survive
never forget.

* By “we” Fisk refers to Bush and Blair’s War on Terror against Iraq and by implication their Western allies. Anyone who wants to understand what Western powers have done to the Middle East in the name of civilization should put Robert Fisk’s award-winning book be at the top of their Must Read List. Graphically and masterfully, he not only reveals how mercilessly history repeats itself, but also documents how with each successive war the human species takes savagery, depravity and criminality to a new extreme. This has been all too evident since October 8, 2023.

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