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| "The path to ending the war is clear. First, the United States and other countries must cease arms exports to Saudi Arabia and the UAE. The Security Council should pass a resolution demanding an immediate end to the war and compelling the Saudis and Emiratis to withdraw from Yemen. The United Nations must sponsor a political process that begins by obligating all parties to the conflict to disarm their militias." — Nobel Peace Prize laureate Tawakkol Karman, "Enough is enough: End the war in Yemen," The Washington Post, November 21, 2018. Photo: A Yemeni child after receiving treatment for malnutrition in a hospital in Taiz on Wednesday. (Ahmad Al-Basha/AFP/Getty Images via The Washington Post) |
Here I am
too thin for a shadow,
too weak to cry.
Can you see me?
I'm traveling light
down Paradise road.
I leave behind my mother
but go to see my brother
who feasts on heaven's bounty.
My face will shine again,
my feet fly with angels.
This sorrow I'll forget
which eats me from within
and abandons me to die,
a husk on my native sand.
Can you see me?
Is anyone there?
Does anyone care?
I am here,
hunger on the breeze
just beyond your window.
Editor's note: Recommended listening: The Daily Podcast: Why U.S. Bombs Are Falling in Yemen.
Darrell Petska is a Middleton, Wisconsin poet with many reasons to feel thankful. Sadly, there was no Thanksgiving in Yemen on Thursday.