MY HOMELAND DESTROYED...

TITLE: MY HOMELAND DESTROYED…

Hollow whispers
Transparent to my ears
Screams all echo
Terrifying streams of fears…

I roam around my once majestic hometown of Baghdad. Mutilated corpses lying here and there. Bombs still dropped upon and wrecks still burning their burns. Flames burning fire. Fire burning flames. I hear the passing by of lightning-speed jets. I see infidel tanks steadily patrolling the streets of Baghdad. I see buildings and monuments destroyed. Acid clouds hovering overhead, my eyes are filled with bitter tears. Yet I do not cry. The tears are merely chemical formations. I’ve cried so much, my natural glands are empty. This is the extent of sorrow. I can’t cry, I can’t cry…

I can’t shed tears
Of despair and sorrow
Else the world would have seen
A river here tomorrow…

I return to the basement where my family is taking shelter. In the complete darkness and atmosphere of gloom, I hear mama praying to Allah. I hear her sob in between. I hear my young siblings playing with each other, unfamiliar with the devastation taking place outside. The vast basement is lit up by the sole glowing of a fire. Utter silence, except for the occassional passing by of more tanks and jets.

Come night-time, the young ones start wailing over food. They are hungry as they have been making do with a loaf or bread or two during the past four days. For a moment, there is agonizing stillness. The only audible things are the crackling of flames. Somehow the infidel armies did not pass by again, neither by air nor ground. I walk outside. Cold gushes of air slap my face. In a way, they convey to me the message of thousands of innocent dead people:

Why, oh why
Our lives, they denied
Why to us so much
Those people despised…

I look up towards the sky. Not black, but the darkest of blue imaginable. Mysteriously, the stars shone more brightly today. I scream as much as I can ‘Allah! Allah! Oh Lord of The Worlds!’

I fall down on my knees and grasp a handful of sand. I rub my face with it. The frosty air starts fluctuating in both sound and speed. Mama rushes out and takes me inside. She tucks me in a torn blanket and kisses me on the forehead. I close my eyes…

I open them again. This time, I can’t feel myself. I’m standing right ouside in front of the building with the basement. I see the youngest of my siblings standing outside, lonely. My baby sister Maria. She cries out to mama. She does not come. I reach for her and hold her, but… but I can’t lift her. I can’t see my hands, neither can I touch her. My spirit passes through her premature flesh. I guess she could not see me either. Right I am in front her. She still sheds tears of sorrow. I look up towards the sky. The same sky like the previous night… the night in which I died…


Wander I now
Not alone, but with
Thousands of others
Accompanying me…



[THE END]
Written by ZAKI KHALID.