Letter to the Friend I Never Met
POETRY FORMAT, 29 Jan 2024
Jocelyn Wright - TRANSCEND Media Service
Dear friend I never met,
For you were taken too soon
Deprived of humanitarian aid
You were
Forcefully displaced and indiscriminately carpet-bombed
Intentionally injured and violated
Purposely starved and dehydrated
Effectively effaced from this Earth along with cultural institutions and memory
Dear friend,
Do you feel relief knowing you are free from the threats and terrors of heartless humankind?
Or mostly anger?
Do you pity my helplessness from up above?
Or scorn my paralyzed inaction down below?
Dear friend I never met,
Sometimes, I envy you
For my mind cannot rest
Overwhelmed by guilt, overcome by my fear of the cruel elite and by despair at the apathy and despondency of the masses
Dear friend,
Sooner or later
We are destined to unite
And I hope you meet an empowered me
A me who spoke up, who stood for something
A me who embodied peace
Not one who continued to idly watch unfold
The harsh and senseless reality of daily shell blasts and sirens
Screams and wounds, humiliation and indignity
Dear friend,
I want you to meet a better me
_______________________________________________
Jocelyn Wright is Associate Professor in the Department of English Language and Literature at Mokpo National University, South Korea, where she has served for over 15 years. Her main areas of academic interest are peace linguistics, peace literature, and peace language education. Email: jocelynmnu@yahoo.com
Tags: Poetry
This article originally appeared on Transcend Media Service (TMS) on 29 Jan 2024.
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