Tuesday, April 10, 2018

Salvo for Aleppo


O’ Khalpe, Hadad, Beroea, Alep,1
You have suffered, are weary White2 Friend,
O’ Ancient City where the Silk Road ends
Where White Helmets3 search scree for signs of breath;

Ahmed and Anya4 have been laid to rest, 
Admiral Grigorovich5 leaves the Black Sea,
Trump declares National Security,
Your state of being, is the next test;

From the Citadel the battle cry blares,
The soks6 are rubble, the walls caved to dust,
There are no safety zones, no peace in mosques,
Those who stay, bury, cloaked in grief and prayers:

No child of God should suffer this horror,7
Remaining souls drift, exist as shadows,
Soaking rags to thwart a menace they know,8
Where, Alep, is your balm, your tomorrow?

(Written April 2017)



1.  The various names that Aleppo has been called through the ages.
2. Aleppo is known as the White One because of its marble deposits.
3. Some who search the rubble for survivors don white helmets.
4. Names of the two babies found among the dead – the result of a gas attack on Syria in April 2017.
5. Admiral Grigorovich is the name of a U.S. destroyer.
6. Soks are the popular market stalls.
7 Part of Trump’s speech as validation for his retaliatory strike on Syrian forces.
8. This is what Syrians did to try to defend against another gas attack.