30 lines
1.0 KiB
Markdown
30 lines
1.0 KiB
Markdown
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---
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title: What is the sound of a genocide?
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description: A poem reflecting on the sounds and pathways to genocide
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date: 2025-01-27
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author: Jennifer C J Radtke
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---
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# What is the sound of a genocide?
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Does a genocide sound like the judgement in court,
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the hammer come down, rustling paper and the jangle of keys;
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now some of the guilty must pay for their crimes?
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Or does it sound like the screams of the victims,
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the bullets, the gas and the anguish of people discarded;
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the last whisper of breath of the last one to die?
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Is it more like the clattering of trains on their tracks,
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the orders given, the bustle and then the final slam of the door
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as the people inside murmur their unease?
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Perhaps a genocide can be heard coming in the chorus of hate,
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escaping the shadows on roads paved with silence,
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as pens scratch on paper and plans come together?
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Do you hear it in the voice of one who sees profit in division,
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the denial that such things ever happened, or could happen here,
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or in the silent heart of one who looks upon another, and says, I --
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I am better.
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