Authors OnLine -

CELEBRATION
Written at the time of the last Gulf War

A Sad Poem by Peter Hart - 1991

We have freed Kuwait Shall we celebrate?
'Desertsword' was so well meant,
Where did it get us in the end?
Let's celebrate, but tell me what?
The leopard has not changed one spot,
Still sits in Baghdad on his leather chair,
Has lost two wars and does not care.

He sends his guards these words:
"Go out and kill the Kurds! "
This time they do not wait for poison gasses,
They take to the many arduous mountain passes.
Their loads are heavy, their hearts are sad,
At the end of the day they have no bed,
Nothing to keep out the cold,
And all of this is not their fault.

Their children cry,
Old people die,
Babies are buried every day.
Mothers grieve, they know not what to say.
They marsh on regardless, the frontier is near,
Perhaps they can make it and the guards they fear
Will no longer be able to do them harm.

"You look so tired, old woman, give me your arm,
Soon we shall cross the river into a safer land."
She looks at the young man, smiles and is content.

The world takes heed of their plight
And sends in flight after flight.
Helicopters drop their loads from the sky,
But the UN is much too shy.
'Ve cannot interfere, let's see and wait
This is not Kuwait'

Storming Norman was right
We should have continued to fight
Until the monster had really gone
Only then could we say that the war was won!