By Suzy T. Kane, March 8, 2024
Written at 3 a.m., EST, January 17, 1991
If there is life
on other planets,
if some creature
on night watch
somewhere out there
in the vast vault of heaven
should happen
to incline its ear
towards the Milky Way,
a sound will catch
in its receiver
as if in a throat,
a sound that will traverse
the universe for years.
Because the creature is intelligent,
it will pity what it hears
torn out of a tiny solar system—
the anguished howl,
the long wail,
the unrelenting lament
gone up again from planet Earth.
One Response
Thank you for this poignant but beautiful poem Suzy. I was born in Mosul, Iraq. Had to flee at a young age because Iraq/ME was then and now still the stage of twisted diabolical geopolitical chess games between great powers.
Despite living in a safe country now, not a day goes by that hasn’t shown the negative consequences war can gave on people (damaged parents and family)
which as a child I was not been able to escape.