For James Foley
from an Iraqi poet
I dreamed
that Iraq was a sea.
Her wars high waves,
her sorrow dark sand,
the blood
a distant sunset.
I dreamed
that the Sunnis of Iraq
were sharks,
the Kurds starfish,
the Christians dolphins,
the Yezidi goldfish,
the Shiites octopuses
and you, James,
a high-flying seagull.
I dreamed
that Iraq was a sea,
Saddam Hussein a salty tsunami,
ISIS
black rats on a sinking pirate ship
and I
a boat with millions of holes,
broken masts
and burnt sails,
which no one can push out to sea.
– Rodaan
Rodaan Al Galidi (1971) is a Dutch writer and poet, born in South Iraq
