.35) After Viewing 100 Photos Of Mideast War Poem by Max Reif

.35) After Viewing 100 Photos Of Mideast War

Rating: 3.7


These timeless scenes of war,
of the people leaving their homes,
the columns of soldiers and tanks
and the rubble left by the shells —

it scarcely even matters
what color the uniforms are,
you could substitute yellowed photos
a hundred years old or more,
and no one would know the difference.

Human anger, reaching its limit,
spills over in scenes like this,
warriors and innocent victims
and somewhere, hidden in buildings,
the ones who conceived the slaughter.

The pictures we see remind us,
all those in our human lineage,
how fragile are our encampments,
how tender the threads of home,
a neighborhood where we can walk
and a room to sit down for a meal.

All we who are living witness
say a prayer for the suffering victims
and a thanks for a safe, warm bed,

and cry for this human condition
of transience upon the earth.
There, but for Grace, do we go.

COMMENTS OF THE POEM

Hell, Max. Humility. The anger in this so finely expressed. If only the 'leaders' could and would do the same. Superb - and haunting. t x

1 0 Reply

PS; I read it again. Three times more and it kicks and I feel ashamed, on behalf of the lack of humanity.

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Lea Simpson 21 July 2006

It's that overwhelming sense of hopelessness, you capture it beautifully. It tortures me.

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Joseph Daly 21 July 2006

I knew that I could count on a cool-headed piece and you provide it well. This is a 'saying-it-as-it-is' piece Max. It flows well and each word has a life. I always recall the slogan of the German Socialist, Karl Liebernicht: 'Capitalism or Barbarism? ' I still think it is pertinent. But is what is happening in the Middle East any more or less barbarous than what was inflicted, by the West on the Balkans and Iraq. I don't think so. I can say this though. In response to Tara's comment, it is this sort of thing (this poem) that raises my love for humanity.

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Debbie Kean 22 March 2007

It really is the only thing that matters, isn't it? We never learn. Debbie Kean

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fanniesson - 07 February 2007

last stanza Na, the whole poem was great.

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Dan Tharp 23 July 2006

The human condition... we never seem to learn! dan

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Declan McHenry 21 July 2006

Max. Thank you.

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Ray Forever 21 July 2006

Yes...this is a piece that you would read again...slowly the second time....and rue over the hopelessness...there are some things which never change in time...and this is one of them....it could be any century...any color...anyplace on earth...Man will never ever learn. Thanks for sharing...Ray

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Max Reif

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