The brown houses
up on the hill,
tower-like,
where the big
families lived,
still forbidding
in detonated
scowl, their will
to ignore now
relegated to un-
inhabited rubble
in ultimate irony –
now they can
no longer pretend,
as they used to,
that further down,
in the ground,
by the big old
grey tree, did not
rot the bodies of
those brought here
and killed for
ethnic cleansing,
as they were
laid bare by
the spring flood.
– Niebla ( © 2008 )
The painting Hallowed Ground this was inspired by is by Rick Mobbs.
Note
Perhaps I should explain what prompted me to write this. It refers to the civil war in former Yugoslavia, in which atrocities were committed that are hard to believe. The cynical term “ethnic cleansing” refers to the ruthless killing of people based on grounds of ethnic or religious difference (Serb, Croat, Bosnian muslim). People were “collected” in their village, marched to a “convenient” location, shot or clubbed to death and buried in mass graves. Some of this is shown in all its brutality in the movie Savior from 1998.
niebla | fog 
very strong and very real, niebla. thanks for adding your voice.
the ending, wow.
this was definitely an eye opener.. i get so disheartened when i read things like this.. i cannot believe,, that there is nothing we can do to stop things like this from happening,, but i am old enough to know,, despite all the desire to stop it,, it continues on,, every day,, somewhere….
brutaly beautiful
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