“Aleppo has become a synonym for hell” they say
When I switch over to the 12’o’clock news
And my mind meditates on the rhetoric.
Hell hath no fury like a government scorned
I think to myself
As I realise
How poorly reported this whole travesty has been.
I see women
Walking dead
But alive enough to see the bones of their children
Mothers, brothers, sisters, lovers.
Decomposing, decrepit. But trust me, she suffers the worst death.
I see children
Numbed with pain
Too young to be this conscious
Of the harsh realities of this world
“Aleppo is a place where the children have stopped crying” they say
All these victims – merely pawns in the devil’s chess game
But what I do not see
Are the culprits in chains, or
News reporters, screaming, losing their shit as they damn
The power hungry, the murderous
Who sit in suits and orchestrate deaths
Who use rape as a weapon of war
To silence the outraged, to assert their dominance
I want to see our government
Accepting responsibility for the part they’ve played
For the moves they’ve made
That have contributed to the pain that echoes in the walls, in the halls
And in the hearts of everywhere and everything in Aleppo that the bombs have missed
That the militiamen have yet to demolish
That the Syrian government have yet to devastate
That the Russian government have yet to destroy
“This tragedy was created by a vacuum of Western leadership, of American leadership, of British leadership” they say
And I accept through gritted teeth
May we one day come to appreciate the privilege and right to life
We so carelessly take from others
And I want the shame of this to saturate
And lead to productive action
From all that can
From all that should
From all
Welcome to Ruth's Rhapsody 