The Last Lullaby (for Lebanon)

Pleiades' heart breaks.
All her stars have fallen out of the sky,
a fiery trail of quasar tears.

Her burning hush settles
on the canopy of still skins.
She quiets crying tongues
with soup spoons of dust and dying embers.
Rockabyes babies with diaphanous songs.
Their small hands open for the promise of candy
as she

smothers them in their milk-fed sleep

this tender mercenary weeps moon drops for the dead,
swaddles them in frankincense robes,
lays them down
on pillows of jasmine moss
where they will rise by a jasper river
and cross over.


In memory of the Qana Massacre on July 30, 2006


The following images are accompanied by the haunting arabic song "Yamma" ("Oh Mother"), a tragic lullaby that in some transcendant way makes the suffering bearable--even as your eyes burn while watching.

These are the lyrics:

"Yamma"

Oh mother, my from the winds!
Oh mother, my...
The stab of daggers but not
The rule of the unjust.

I walked under the rain
And the rain quenched me,
And the summer when it came
Set my fire aflame.

The age of the youth remains
A vow for freedom.

Oh night, the horizon has swayed
Witnessing my wounds;
Forget the enemy's army
From all around.

The night has seen evil
Learning by me.

The rifle of the mountain
Is higher than the heights;
Open the road of hope
And hope is in the towers.

My people, no, my heroes
I'd venge you with my eyes.

Oh mother, my from the winds!
Oh mother, my...
The stab of daggers but not
The rule of the unjust.

--thank you to Ashraf Osman for the translation