Dear Mother

January 9, 2007

The following is a spontaneous piece that I penned on the 3rd anniversary of the war, and consequent occupation of Iraq. It is important to note that the following is not intended to be a poetic piece; merely an explosive combination of frustrating emotion and violent hopelessness that I believe exists in the minds and hearts of many Iraqis living away from the motherland – at a time when she needs us the most.

Saturday March 18th, 2006

Dear Mother,

I write to you in angst; for I feel I have betrayed you. What words can I utter, what actions can I undertake, that will justify the fact I have not been by your side while you have been violated, humiliated and raped, in the most pervasive of manners?

The anxiety I feel; the unbearable weight of guilt that has so comfortably perched itself on my shoulders, weighing me down so terribly, is real. I cannot fathom the thought of your children not only bickering but bludgeoning each other to death with hatred and, to a less painful degree, power drills. Hate is not a characteristic of you, nor is it characteristic of your sons [of civilization].

I understand that the molestation you have endured at the hands of the [multiple and invisible] aggressors has ensured your tormenting subservience; I understand that the scarce optimism towards your rehabilitation, that existed at one stage, was bloodily conceived but stillborn.

I simply ask that you compose yourself, as only the origin of civilisation could in such difficult circumstances, and lift your sons up to ensure they stand hand in hand; regardless of ethnicity and religious beliefs.

Despite my unbearable guilt and despite your horrific humiliation, we both keep between us a common secret. For you and I are both aware that you still have the capacity to smile once again; at which point of course you will return to your rightful place of the cradle of civilisation.

Your son