Revolting heartache felt on viewing pictures of prisoners abused by US soldiers. |
MY HEART BREAKS My heart breaks when I behold, The prisoners on a leash, All naked, tugged by a girl, Puffing on a cigarette! I’m ashamed when she views them Devoid of any clothes, Pointing to their private parts, Jeering so gleefully! So was in Guantanamo And so in Abu Ghraib. So will I cry in anguish, Wherever it may be! *With apologies to William Wordsworth (1770-1850), who wrote the immortal: “My heart leaps up when I behold A rainbow in the sky: So was it when my life began; So is it now I am a man; So be it when I shall grow old, Or let me die!” *Pictures of Miss England, 21, a US soldier, splashed in newspapers, TV and internet all over the world, showed her viciously smiling and smoking while pointing at the genitalia of naked male prisoners. * Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib, US interrogation centres (torture prisons) gained world-wide notoriety in the aftermath of US attacks on Afghanistan and Iraq. • • Written in 7-7-7-7 format. Initially written as item 848102, substituted on 25 March 2005 by entry 336924 in "WAR POETRY--award winner" . Reposted in the present form on 12 September 2008. M C Gupta 12 May 2004 |