Inseparable

Under the blue Mesopotamian sky
There is a land where barefooted raindrops
Dance on the bloodstained leaves of grass.
Some call it homeland.
For others,
It is a battlefield,
Where ravens of war devour
The expanse of the sky,
Where, in the morning,
The stray dogs greet the dwellers
With insomnia of sharp yelps,
And in the harsh noon,
Vultures feast on their lifeless bodies.

How did we, after having traveled so far,
Arrive at a nightmare such as this?
How did we, after having learned so much,
Join in this carnival of rotten flesh and gunpowder?
In the midst of so much shredded sky
And bloodied landscape
Can one ever find that neglected hope?
Where can one find that refuge?
Will God ever remember to raise,
From the exploded remains of conscience,
Our children without malice?

It is true that we have fought bitterly as foes.
But we have also lived together, long,
Longer than many lifetimes,
In this parenthesized geography.
Isn't it time to close
This book of divided theology
And realize, instead,
How inseparable we are
Under the beautiful Mesopotamian sky?