عاشق الابتسامات
30-04-2003, 04:34 PM
Sandra Ahrens
50 years old
Fond du Lac, WI
A graduate student in English, Creative Writing, and an instructor, at the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee, and a mother and spouse as well, looking for a way to be an active citizen, speaking for peace.
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Please Know, This War is Not in My Name
I want to say: not in my name, directly,
into the ear of a girl in Afghanistan,
to the eyes of a woman in Iraq,
to men and especially to children
within our country and all other countries,
put onto killing lists, whether for duty,
or to otherwise die, given up as refuse,
because too few of us have far too much.
For the clear-eyed women and men,
the children and grownups strapping on bombs,
to those weaving shrouds with small time
and energy left, I want to say: I know it is time
to be part of the world, not in charge,
only charged with listening, deeply and steadily, to reach past the gap and void that surrounds us,
devouring voices that hunger to speak, hunger to link, the voices of people at home in the world,
I lean farther and farther to say it, willing myself the force to deliver it: not in my name,
I say, knowing that if it has not yet carried,
I have not gone far.
50 years old
Fond du Lac, WI
A graduate student in English, Creative Writing, and an instructor, at the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee, and a mother and spouse as well, looking for a way to be an active citizen, speaking for peace.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Please Know, This War is Not in My Name
I want to say: not in my name, directly,
into the ear of a girl in Afghanistan,
to the eyes of a woman in Iraq,
to men and especially to children
within our country and all other countries,
put onto killing lists, whether for duty,
or to otherwise die, given up as refuse,
because too few of us have far too much.
For the clear-eyed women and men,
the children and grownups strapping on bombs,
to those weaving shrouds with small time
and energy left, I want to say: I know it is time
to be part of the world, not in charge,
only charged with listening, deeply and steadily, to reach past the gap and void that surrounds us,
devouring voices that hunger to speak, hunger to link, the voices of people at home in the world,
I lean farther and farther to say it, willing myself the force to deliver it: not in my name,
I say, knowing that if it has not yet carried,
I have not gone far.