for Barham Salih
Prime Minister of Iraqi Kurdistan
Who will kill the killing if I do not?
No person or state should take people’s lives.
How a phone call saved me from Khadir’s plot
I cannot explain. How his hatred thrives
on the same book as my care for this land
I understand but cannot accept. Our
culture says kill him, but my steady hand
won’t lift the pen nor assign the death hour.
I walk the child’s ward of this hospital
in my Sulaimaniya, touch the nubs
of their arms and legs lost to mines. A tall
nurse brushes away her tears as she scrubs
a small back. Outside, I pray to do good.
The cloud-cloaked sun seems a pool of fresh blood.
Roger Armbrust
December 31, 2002
