Long ago, at Karbala, a horrific chapter
A ruthless Killer and heartless captor
The land red with blood, red
With the blood of all the dead
Then, its was a tyrant’s work on display
Today, too, another tyrant holds sway
A new chapter is being written, new blood
Is being shed like flood
Then, no one heeded the wailing and crying
Today, too, no one comforts the dying
A Proud nation’s cries go unheeded
Its neighbors, cowards all, have conceded
There will be more, ‘one by one’
Wakeup, look what the enemy has done
Today, its IRAQ, tomorrow, many more
No one knows what will be the final score
The enemy is strong – a superpower
Its missiles rain down like a ghastly shower
The destruction is immense
No one is spared, nothing makes sense
Yesterday, it was Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Today, it’s Baghdad, Basra and all things Iraqi
‘Smart’ and ‘Cluster’ bombs, ‘Shock & Awe’ more
Day and night it goes on, an unending roar
Many a nation, some rich and strong
Iraq’s neighbors, allowing this wrong
Hiding their heads in the sand
Instead of uniting to defend this land
‘One by one,’ the enemy will take them out
Who, then, will there be to stop the rout
They will come for sure, again and again
Death and destruction again will rain
Mohsin Jaffri***