Contrary to popular belief,
we have found WMDs in Iraq,
whose Tigris and Euphrates rivers
once flowed into the Garden of Eden.
But true to popular belief,
these WMDs were not weapons
of mass destruction, in the usual
meaning of that phrase,
They turned out to be wars
of mutual destruction, fueled
by fear and anger against
the most vulnerable within our reach
It matters not that good
intentions guided bombs
and tanks to destroy the
land and lives of innocents
To a man who buried his
family in the smoking ashes
of his ancestral home, or that
vengeful reprisals have no
Other cause, to a mother who
sheds tears upon her favorite
photo of her dead son, whose
body has come home
But whose blood was spilled
into the Tigris and Euphrates
And it matters not
that treasures spent
in futile efforts to fix
what through unfounded
Belief was broken,
by laying siege to
vanquished tribes
to form a nation
Foreign to their own.
And though livelihoods
and communities have
been drained of hope
And promise at home,
there is no end in sight
for wars still fueled by
fear and anger against
The most vulnerable
within our reach.