In the Cradle of Civilization

[rhiannon55]

I just found this group. How cool. I love DU!

Here's a poem that I published In Poets Against the War http://www.poetsagainstthewar.org a couple of years ago:


In the Cradle of Civilization

In ancient Sumer,
between the Tigris and Euphrates,
in a place that later was called Babylon
Inanna, Queen of Heaven and Earth,
poured out sweet cream and honey
to feed her children.
For thousands of years
before the patriarchy,
the people called out to her
and she answered them
with peace and abundance,
sweet cream and honey.
Imagine: this ravaged desert
is where her gardens flourished,
these battered people, descendents
of the ones who worshiped her.
Imagine: for all of their existence,
those ancestral people did not know
of the vast sea of oil
deep in the earth beneath their feet.
Did you know? The earliest writings
were found in Inanna's temples:
it is language that makes us civilized,
and written language first blossomed
in that ancient land.
How can we remain silent
and go about our daily lives,
while those beautiful brown people
whose ancestors invented writing,
are murdered in their beds and streets and markets,
their blood flowing freely
like sweet cream and honey,
like the rich black oil
we came to liberate.