There you are, you leaders

who call out travesty, injustice

and denial of sovereignty but

still sit on your hands and let  the

rapists do their calculated work.

 

You have crafted good neat excuses

for your impotence: non-escalation,

economic stability, avoidance of

wars that lead to abject tragedy.

 

But on your doorstep lies the wasteland

of your passivity and such memories

will not go away in the years to

follow, will not go away, will be

the ghosts that haunt you and

the consequences that tug at you.

 

Who will reply to the families

that have lost everything?

 

What is your response to

grief beyond grief?

 

What will you say to the

victims of this rape?

 

The rhetoric is loud

but the courage is missing.

 

12/3/2022