By Ishmael von Heidrick-Barnes
Dresden
If you believe in the god of war
go to Dresden
where charred faces
still look anxiously up at clouds
If you can wash your hands in fountains
where women and children
sought refuge from the firestorm of incendiary bombs
only to boil in water
If you believe in the god of war
go to Dresden
where charred faces
still look anxiously up at clouds
If you can wash your hands in fountains
where women and children
sought refuge from the firestorm of incendiary bombs
only to boil in water
Then walk out onto the Brühl Terrace:
The balcony of Europe
before Allied bombers
reduced it to smoking debris
on Ash Wednesday 1945
If you don’t feel ashamed
being American
stand beneath the Hofkirche
where the eyes of biblical prophets
look down from the balustrade
with compassion
melting stone into tears
Cross the Augustus Bridge
over the Elbe
put your feet in the river
until the reliquary of broken bones
washes away
the blood on your heels
If your reluctance
to accept responsibility
for the sins of your fathers
is not absolved
Then go to the Altmarkt
order a hamburger at McDonald’s
dine alfresco on the square
where 10,000 corpses
were stacked into a pyre
doused with gasoline
torched by flame throwers
because there weren’t enough survivors
to bury the dead
If that doesn’t make you sick
contemplate
the blackened stones of the Frauenkirche
seek guidance
from the four evangelists
watching over the dome
Beg for mercy
before the contorted cross of Christianity
maybe then you will think twice
before pointing one crooked finger
at your shadow
After all
it takes a terrorist
to name a terrorist
and fuel the fear necessary to keep
fire burning
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Brilliantly powerful. Thanks for sharing!