Iraq Today Poem by john tiong chunghoo

bulldog faced
bulldozed, face
flattened, dried
and creased
to a patch,
an aching patch
large as iraq

tears flow
swift as justice
a noose to
stamp a
committment
not to return
to terror
floods with blood

distraught land
that echoes
prayers
as much as
screams and
cries with the
road to balance
hearts dammed
like the Tigris

heaven only
knows the secrets
of enemies and friends
in a fractious land

the mighty river
tarries out to sea
without a care
looters, bulliers, saviours,
enemies, or invaders

i recall hamurabi
and and his honeyed sumeria
where justice were
chiselled hard as stones