by Robert M. Chute
at a mass grave site pauses, holds out
his hands, looks up. He might have been
asking for help while standing in our city's
solid waste land fill, but this was near
Mahsweed, Iraq. He won't kneel to pray
nor bend to press his forehead to
the ground there in all the filth and flies.
He could have taken an arm of this person
a leg from another, to finally perform
a proper interment. Are we not all equal
under our differing skins: all one to Him?
The photographer was Samantha Appleton.
Samantha Appleton: a real person I assure you.
Be thankful there are still those among us
whose names offer comfort and hope.
Robert M. Chute’s book from JustWrite Books, Reading Nature, poetry based on scientific articles, is available from Amazon or Barnes and Noble.