Amid the too-common rubble of Beirut , a critically wounded man
with a rod bent in the shape of a shepherd's crook stands out.
(By Baz Ratner -- Associated Press)
You cannot separate the just from the unjust
and the good from the wicked; For they stand
together before the face of the sun even as the
black thread and the white are woven together.
And when the black thread breaks, the weaver
shall look at the whole cloth, and he shall
examine the loom also: Kahlil Gibran,The Prophet
Amid the rubble, coated with dust
you sit critically wounded and helpless.
A few minutes ago you were sitting
by the window ~ watching the bombs
in the distance and feeling somewhat
safe .
After all, you were living in Beirut ~ the crown
jewel of the middle east , the cosmopolitan city
with beautiful women and exquisite restaurants
and such great food !
Surely, the Israeli's would not bomb this
beautiful magnificent city.
The Lebanese love summer flowers, and Beirut is
filled this summer with cedar trees and bushes that smell
like heaven ~ purple bougainvillea, sweet roses,
white jasmine and, of course, endless
cascades of pungent gardenias.
Surely, the Israeli's would not bomb
this paradise.
After all, this city was once the home of Lebanon's
greatest poet, the mystic Khalil Gibran, who knew
first hand of the tragedies of Lebanon and
wrote knowingly of the half million
Lebanese, many of them
residents of Beirut, who died
in the 1916 famine ~ and now the one out of
three Lebanese who are homeless.
My people died of hunger, and he who
Did not perish from starvation was
Butchered with the sword;
They perished from hunger
In a land rich with milk and honey.
They died because the vipers and
Sons of vipers spat out poison into
The space where the Holy Cedars and
The roses and the jasmine breathe
Their fragrance.
Surely, the Israeli's would not bomb
this paradise.
Then the American made Israeli missile
hit and the building suddenly collapsed
around you.
Blinded by the explosion you grasped for
something to hold onto.
Reinforcing bars normally hidden in
concrete were now twisting like reeds
in the rubble and one became your
sheperd's crook.
Eventually a survivor directed a rescue worker
to your side ~ who turned and sadly said
He's dead.
And last night, an Israeli night airstrike
on Qana, seven miles north of the
Lebanese-Israeli border has killed
57 civilians ~ 37 of them Children .
Yes, 37 of them innocent children
who died in their sleep ~ ripped to
shreds by an illegal American made
bomb.
Surely, It's finally time to stop bombing each
other and examine the loom of universal love
that not only lies deepest within each
Allen L Roland
