Am I allowed to cry for Lebanon
her skies of blood and bone
her crumbled edifice of recent peace
fissures on her anguished face
Am I treasonous to mourn for Muslims
both Shiite and Sunni lives
shattered bones, caskets of blood
circled by their crying breath
Am I allowed to say I don’t Believe
and still bear credible witness
to crimes against a mass aggrieved
no God or Allah as guide
Would I be treasonous to take their side
to desire a decisive end
to demand a trial of criminals
who decree through simmering laws
Am I free to crush the coat of arms
and not be cast asunder
to hold my tongue when forced to speak
and not be held in contempt
Is it un-patriotic to claim the color white
is a lack of pigmentation
I see as much pain in the dark of night
as in the pale of a daylight sky
Am I really allowed to state the truth:
“You’ve murdered my fellow man
in the name of bounty, coarse and crude,
yet you sleep as though noble of deed!
What are these four walls you keep me in?
these chains and lights and heat
Your chaos has spawned an animal
you will now never, ever defeat
And what becomes of the rule of law
as you time your self destruction
the likes of me and your democracy
we can never be faithful friends!”
And the courtiers rise as the Jester dies
his habeas becoming his corpus
where villains feast with trenchant glee
and the weak too hungry to speak.
Jenny Campbell © 2007
