Ethnic cleansing does not remove
the stigma of massacre,
nor remove color stains.
Blood is not removed by luminal
gray ash of cremation, can’t be swept away
the Nazis tried;
instead got a trial at Nuremberg.
Religious fervor does not vacuum up
the remains of genocide.
Mopping up the decay of dead bodies
does not diminish the smell.
Shoveling dirt over carcasses
can’t hide them.
Serbians tried,
instead got a trial at Nuremberg.
Ethnic cleansing does not
bleach out color
racial profiling is heinous
no matter the skin tone.
Makeup does not blot out famine.
Skin peels do not conceal lynch tactics,
Al Qaeda is trying
but Darfur
will not conceal them.
© 2004 by Rosemary Winters Tracey
Note to the Reader: when I first wrote this poem in July of 2004, people were just beginning to realize that there was a problem in this corner of the world. Nobody knew what to call the region so it was called the borderlands between Chad and Sudan. It was only later that the area was recognized as Darfur. The original poem read Chad and Sudan.
Similarly, there was no universal way of spelling Al Qaeda in the English language. It was not until a few months later that an agreement was made to spell it in this fashion. In the original writing the spelling in this poem was al Qaida. I have changed the spelling to agree with the generally accepted poetry at this time.
I hope that you will find thee changes enjoyable and help improve the readibility of this poem.
Rosemary
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