JASMINE NO MORE, Poetry by Daniel Hefty

Genre: War, Political, People, Society

JASMINE NO MORE
by Daniel Hefty

I wake up in the night thinking about children
not mine but yours
you broken mothers
snatched from security and comfort
thrust into a divide uncrossable
left at the bottom of the rubble
from a sectarian blanket bombing campaign for peace
and domination

You wanted something you had no right to request
democracy would never replace the Shahs and Kings
did you believe they cared about God more than power
as they hauled off your sons and husbands
in the springtime of their lives
the Arab spring
as fire and brimstone rained down from the sky

I see vast expanses of barren mountain desert
scattered with scant shrubs and giant boulders
hand planted by Allah
moonlight catches up to the shadows
traversing a border into the unknown
where pregnant mothers will give birth to offspring
who will never have…