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Poetry || SubmissionsSARAJEVO SUNSET THE CYCLE OF VIOLENCE by Noreen M. O'NeillThey have not learned. Time and again, throughout the ages Across all lands They arrive Laden with baggage, trappings of the past, Burdened with the rage, the seething passions Of the defiled. They become that which they hate the most. Picking up stones, hurling their rocks, Shooting their bullets, shouting their curses, Or, silently condemning those that are so unlike, So alike themselves. They see only the difference Through a clouded mirror, Their own reflection blurring The image of the enemy. They have not learned. Blindly striking out at those who appear To be separate and apart, They capture their land, Claiming their possessions, Raping their bodies, Stealing their lives, Never owning their souls. Accusing God to be their leader, Ordaining their actions, They continue the crusade. A conquest of violence, Nothing more than, more of the same. The wretched, wicked pilgrims confused, Desperate, Convinced and convicted, Justify their thirst for blood As an offering, a sacrifice To a stone idol Made in the image and likeness Of their hardened hearts. Shameless. FULL CIRCLE (In memory of Yitzhak Rabin) Silent now, Only the whisper of a gentle breeze is Stirring through the city where he rests. The moans and prayers of the abandoned Cry out for his return. No more To walk this land, to plead the cause. He journeys now through the fields of memory Lighting his candles in tribute. A guide for the believers, A beacon for the lost. His arms outstretched, a wide embrace Tenderly enclosing even those who bade him go. Now full circle, his mission complete, He rests. His legacy of healing The burning, open wounds of the desecrated, Belongs to those who stay behind. Embraced and caressed, fondly bidding farewell, He leaves. Only The shadow of the dove soaring Towards the heavens Between the Sun and Earth Remains. ANTHRO APOLOGY You do not know my name, Nor the color of my skin, Or, where my loved ones are. You do not remember my laughter Or, the joy I felt holding my first child. You never saw me dance Or, heard me sing the songs from my village. The blue cloth you gently unravelled from my arms Once matched the color of my eyes. These eyes that felt the warmth of tears And celebrated the sunrise and the sunset Have been replaced with hollow sockets now filled With soil that you gently remove with your soft brush. You hold my skull up to the light but cannot see The years of education and experience, Of thought and memory, of feelings and dreams. You want to understand, To piece together how life was for me. My bones have become a puzzle for you to solve, To rearrange into some order That might explain who I was and how I left. It doesn't matter anymore. I, am gone. THE WREATH In search of Peace, I reach For the olive branch to bend And encircle our crown, the earth, Troubled and torn by the struggle, The torment of lives simply In search of Love. Noreen McQuade O'Neill is a freelance writer, Marketing and Communications Consultant now living in San Rafael, California. She recently spent 38 months living in Jakarta, Indonesia with her husband, Michael. She is the second of eight children, a mother, world traveler and creative visionary. She has worked in advertising, public relations and advanced for President Gerald R. Ford, Reagan-Bush and received a Presidential Appointment during the Reagan Administration as Deputy Director of Public Affairs for the U.S. Department of Labor. She is the initiator for WAVE (WORLD AGAINST VIOLENCE AND EXPLOITATION), a concept which asserts that each individual is responsible for creating world peace...with an emphasis on women focusing on their ability to effect change by simply committing the concept into action first in their own homes which is a microcosm for society and then to extend their determination out to everyone they meet. Each year, at 12 noon on March 21, people are encouraged to literally take one step forward and stretch their hand towards heaven with a Waving motion as a symbolic display of new energy being moved in a positive direction around the entire earth. There are no membership fees, no meetings...just an idea that a simple gesture, a physical movement will demonstrate solidarity and the intention to wave away the bad and clear a path for good...functioning as one body on a specific day at a specific time, to demonstrate that over and above all differences and disputes...there is one goal and that is Peace. Email address: mjonmo@ibm.net Today's Situation
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