Ishtar's Gate

This is a poem written while in Iraq in 2005. Although it is a meager attempt to describe the war, it does honor Christ as the means through which to end it. May the protective prayer of the Mother of God, our Lady of Fatima, save us.


Ishtar’s Gate
Copyright © 2007

Boom sounds the terror war
Boots and bombs shake Babylon’s door
Where drums heard thousand years before
Her gardens hung in wonder –

Convoy in and convoy out
With faith obscured beyond all doubt
No knowledge of what war's about
Save casualties who suffer –

Mounted up with guns we go
Through cities, towns, the pace so slow
An ambush sits in wait to blow
Our warrior flesh asunder –

Mujahedin and Soldiers meet
Burning lead in Baghdad Streets
Clotting blood stains hospital sheets
No talk of spoils - just blunder –

Lightning flash and blind eyes glaze
Obscuring light till end of days
Bound in mind our wounded lays
In state, no words to utter –

Salvo’s burst and body dies
Our friends we cannot recognize
Though body armor petrifies
This test of faith is tougher –

Rockets, mortars, day and night
Breach our walls with aimless flight
Then impact burning flames ignite
To suck the air - we smother –

Phantom death, Iraq's road rage
Detonates - our youthful age
Their triggerman does not assuage -
Suppress their fire! Recover!

Explosions shred patrol and tent
Shrapnel hits then letters sent
To families grieving loved ones spent
In combat – still we linger –

Assassins smoke - the dust filled air
Steals our breath and in their stare
We glimpse the devil and despair
Though he has been tread under –

The sudden blast, the punctured ground
The ringing pain, then not a sound
Proceed through kill zone; honor bound
To make it back together –

The Prince of War spews fiery ice
His legions lust the sacrifice
The mounds of flesh do not suffice
To sate their voracious hunger –

Medals for our wounds they say
Are recompense for what we pay –
For standing fast in perils’ way
For Liberty our lover –

Death is life but in disguise
A life of peace to war is lies
Know death of soul is feast for flies
We pray to our sweet Mother –

Transfigured we unsanctified
Suffer wounds though Jesus died
Upon the cross of sin and cried
“Forsaken!” Still we shudder –

Freedom sappers castigate
While Lion's sentry Ishtar's gate
As dead ones share their common fate
A roar is heard like thunder!

So what is the truth of this great sin?
If one life dies then no one wins
Unless one's soul's been purged within
So contemplate and mutter –

Yet all our hope on earth relies
In resurrection, paradise
As Angel Warriors storm the skies
Before our God and Brother –

In God’s own peace our souls remain
His Mercy, cleanse us free of stain
We pray our struggle’s not in vain
For we love one another –

Copyright © 2007