Even the doctors cried, they said.
Even the doctors, their emotions
Cauterised by having to deal
With endless
Lines of hopeless cases,
Even the doctors,
With their dead eyes
And blank expressions,
Kalashnikovs slung over their shoulders,
To stop the gangs of hungry looters
Coming to the hospital to steal
The food from the dying patients,
Even the doctors cried, they said
Because he was so beautiful.
The boy lay on a filthy towel
His arms blown off, his eyes
Vast pools of bewildered
Fear and nameless wonder,
All his loved ones reduced
To collateral dust, his universe
Collapsed, sucked back
Into a big bang
Of dying stars in reverse.
Even the doctors cried, they said
Because he was so beautiful
All the boy could see
Was a blur of flashing cameras.
Each syndicated photo flashed around a world
In awe of him
Because he was so beautiful
The commentators crowded round him
Bidding for first preference on his soul,
Because he was so beautiful
Even the doctors cried, they said.
His face, radiant
His eyes, focused
On a land
So far away, glimpsing
A picture that cannot be taken
A soul
That cannot be stolen,
Blinking
In the glare of the unforgiving
Camera eye.
All he could see were the bright
Faces of angels,
Waiting in paradise for him,
Waiting to deliver him
From this waking dream.
So he could live for ever
With his father and his brother
And his beautiful mother
Dancing in the never ending
Light of Allah’s eyes..
Even the doctors cried, they said.
Because he was so beautiful.
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