Haig Khatchadourian: Lament for Lebanon

in the gathering of the waters*
barricaded by distance
from the bludgeoning of war
we kept our lament strictly personal
in the mined night our pain
cradled like lost lovers
in our muted hearts

the indifferent world looked on
as little children
forgotten by man forsaken by God
were crucified in the rubble of disemboweled
buildings
as fractured bodies twisted limbs
torn from the erstwhile living
softcarpeted the festering streets
with offal and omnivorous snarling flames
an arrogant invader proud in arms
raped a people desecrated a country
posing as savior
hailed by those who had professed
blood is thicker than water

yet we too were fully implicated
secure from the war’s blind blows
dug-in in the deep trenches of unremembering
time
our hands and faces too were smeared
with unresisting blood
we too went on our daily living
we too did nothing to stop the carnage

by the mediterranean’s bitter waters
the women of tyre and beirut wept
for their children
and would not be comforted



Haig Khatchadourian
July-August 1982
July-August 2006

*Native American name for Milwaukee