Blogging the Middle East

It was Beirut, again,

when we thought Beirut went

to rest,

but Beirut will not sleep

until El Salvador sleeps

and San Francisco will

not eat

until Eritrea eats

and El Salvador

will not die

And it was Beirut all over again

with fathers shooting their

sons

and sons burying their fathers

before the mosquitoes made them

unrecognizable

and it was Beirut all over again

when only the banks stood erect

and money increased

at the rate of the wounded

The above are excerpts from a poem titled “It was Beirut, all over again”, by Etel Adnan. You can find the entire poem in the Middle East Report, No. 162 (January - February 1990), 20-21.