From Angola to Cambodia
from Mozambique to Bosnia
from Afghanistan to Iraq and Iran
from Egypt, Kuwait to Somalia,
we are the amputees, the living witness,
to the ghosts of war.
Why are landmines
planted in the soil of our existence -
in our farms, in our parks,
in our forests and playgrounds,
in all the sacred corners
of our lives?
Why are they planted
to betray our freedom
to take away our trust
in the soil of our existence
to steal away our innocense
and laughter and
to transform our days and nights
into screams of pain and horror?
How many Dianas will come and visit us?
How many Ottawa Conventions
should be signed?
How many Nobel Peace Prize winners
should be named
before our soil of existence
can be declared
as safety zones?
How many more wars should men
in the world create
to agonize
our spirits and bodies?
Elizabeth Padillo Olesen
http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/landmines-and-amputees/
