Ya* Ali by Nedhal Abbas

No photo was available of
Nedhal Abbas.  However,
this image speaks for
all Iraqis. Ms. Abbas, mother
of two, wrote her first book,
"Dreams of Invisible Pleasures",
in 1999.

          This is by no means

The whole story

We can see the end
Not the process
The consequences
Not the causes

In Najaf
At Imam Ali’s** shrine
A sad recognition of…
What? I ask.

Ya Ali
A woman mourns
Cuddling her dead son
Looking at the sky
Not the shrine
As if...
What? I ask.

A bomb falls

On a house
Not the shrine
Al hamdullilah
Thank God

Ya Ali
In the haunting miles
Of Wadi Assalam***
Gravediggers
To bury their fear
Conjure the blessings of
The murdered Imam.

F16 strikes

Silence no more
Noble, dispassionate,
Unsentimental
One and a half million Dead
Bound to no one
They murmur
Ya Ali

In the Sahan****
By the shadow of the Imam
A young fighter
Rests
An old book in hand
He reads
“Proclaim the truth”
“Stand by the oppressed not the oppressor”*****.

Apache helicopters fire

Thick black smoke rises
Smell of burnt flesh
Fills the air
Is he someone we know?
I ask.

Yaaa Aliiiiii
I hear no answer.


For more of Nedhal Abbas' poetry please go to:
http://www.stateofnature.org/poemsIraq.html