Poem

In Belmont CA for Priya's wedding. The back porch looks out into a ravine. Beautiful place. I thought I had some scans on this laptop that I could post, but can't find any. So, am posting a poem I wrote a while ago, when we started the war with Iraq. It doesn't rhyme.
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When the sky bleeds over the hills
Twilight, when the chains are broken
Procession of the listless
Blinking, shuffling, silent
Walk along the salt flats
Desert, baked and hard, unyielding

Mad souls howl in the distance
As the river flows from distant hills
Red from the tattered robes
Stuck in the reeds somewhere upstream
Black from the curse of the land
Panacea or poison
Changing with time, changing with space
Punch line to a cruel joke

Wait for the magic carpet
Wait for the cool of the night
Wish that night does not turn to day
Wish they all come home
Wish they all go home

Ones without homes
Will put stone over stone
Seek refuge
Wait for next deluge