Of Politics and Poetry

Here's an interesting entry: a poem about the atrocities in Darfur written by the Green Party candidate for Ottawa South - Dr. Qais Ghanem. According to his campaign, "Dr. Ghanem is an ardent activist for the human rights of all people, no matter the ethnicity or religion."

Darfur

When did I ever choose to be born

In the heat and the dust of Darfur?

My young mother, barely sixteen

So pure, has been taken like a whore

Never chose to be raped that dark night

By two men then by three then by four

Or to carry that deep shame many months

While the world all around was at war

To give birth to this skinny bag of bones

In whose lips withered breasts cannot pour

Too feeble to fend off all the flies

Off my eyes, off my nose, off my sore

Dancing around as death draws ever close

Who can know what misery is in store

Flapping wings buzzing deep in my ear

In my shack I can never shut the door

They seem happy slurping at my tear

While they wait for my flesh, I am sure

When you next see my face on TV

And you wonder if there is any cure

Take a look at your child, then at me

Is my life worth living any more?