A Poem for the 4th of July

A woman in El Salvador holds in her hand
the picture of her son
who never went to war
but was disappeared anyway
by a CIA death squad

In Guatemala a woman weeps for her children
who were in the tiny house
when the guards
sent by Eisenhower
burned it down
because she is Indigena
she has no photos
they live only in her memory

A woman in Iraq holds
the pictures of her three daughters
killed by an American cluster bomb
She can’t bear to tell their father
because he loved them so much

In Afghanistan an old man weeps
for his whole family
all dead
all bombed
he says throw sand in my eyes
I don’t want to see
He says he wants to die
the general thinks
there might have been a terrorist
somewhere

In Palestine a mother holds
the soccer ball
her son was kicking down the street
when he was shot
the gun and the bullet and the helicopter
were made in the USA
so Israelis could kill
her son

this 4th of July
I think about those children
and I think about their grieving parents
I weep with them
I weep for what this country has become

paul siemering abuelito@comcast.net