I just read this Harper's article about poems by prisoners still held at Guantanamo Bay.
One of the poems is given in full. It is immensely powerful. I can't shake the sadness.
I want you to read this aloud.
Death Poem
By Jumah al-Dossari
Take my blood.
Take my death shroud and
The remnants of my body.
Take photographs of my corpse at the grave, lonely.
Send them to the world,
To the judges and
To the people of conscience,
Send them to the principled men and the fair-minded.
And let them bear the guilty burden, before the world,
Of this innocent soul.
Let them bear the burden, before their children and before history,
Of this wasted, sinless soul,
Of this soul which has suffered at the hands of the "protectors of peace."
Send this poem to your senators and representatives.
My hope is that it will be read in Congress and entered into the congressional record where it belongs, as a permanent stain on this country's honor.