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