By Prem Gongaju
Out there in the desert,
the scorpions and sidewinders are full of zeal
under the crescent moon.
Out there in the desert,
Fire leaps and rolls fanned by the siroccos
under the pitiless sun.
Ground Zero is here, alas!
“Hardly are those words out”, ten thousands mirages
mirrored the lamentation around the oases of Ground Zero.
The keepers of the oases wept, salinizing
the pools fed by the arteries of humanity.
Golgotha was Ground Zero, wasn’t it,
once upon a Roman time?
A hero tree grew out of Ground Zero, its taproot
sustained by the underground maze of believers.
II
O keepers of the oases, hear my song
beaded in the beard of Grandpa Whitman.
O keepers and defenders of freedom,
Didn’t Phoenix rise from the dust of the Thirties?
O defenders of liberty,
Didn’t Phoenix rise from the pyres of Pearl Harbor?
O veterans of the united vision,
Didn’t Phoenix rise from the graveyard of Gettysburg?
O keepers of peace and harmony,
Have faith in the integrity of ecumenical divinity.
O keepers of “the costly discipleship”,
Have host in the communion of common humanity.
III
Lend your brave breaths,
O youth!–
Phoenix will rise again.
And yet—
Liberty must not be chained:
Let Phoenix rise from the ashes of pimps of powers.
And yet—
Liberty must not be molested:
Let freedom rise unmolested by the mongers of martial might.
And yet—
Justice must not be bound:
Let Phoenix rise with a sprig of lilac in its beak.
And Love—
Love must not be lost:
Let Phoenix rise on the fraternal wings of humanity.
IV
Out there in the wasteland,
Vast wings of American falconry scissor the sky,
Their shadows sweep the graveyards of empires.
Death descends on militant grounds,
Maiming and mutilating, burning and butchering
The fanatic as well as the faithful.
Dust from the exodus of doomed and damned obscures
The vision of friends and foes. The picture of an ambushed child
Reaching for her severed limb indicts us all.
Phoenix is an Afghan child,
Phoenix is an American child,
Phoenix is an Israeli child,
Phoenix is a Palestinian child.
Phoenix is every child.
Let Phoenix rise.