Our Lion

This is a poetry submission from an ARA supporter regarding the recent sale of a statue from ancient Mesopotamia. ARA would like to encourage other creative-minded folks to send over their own works on these and other topics for publication on the blog. Anonymity will be maintained for those who prefer it. Send submissions to struggle@wsuara.org.

Our Lion

this ancient lion of ours

has been auctioned off.

proceeds will go to a charitable trust formed by the martin family.

one of these days
an iraqi is going to steal the mona lisa
and sell it for 57 million dollars
for the proceeds to go to a charitable trust formed by abeer qassim hamza's family.
and it will be a popular news item
for many a web surfer to marvel at

and pat themselves on the back

for being informed.
perhaps they auction mesopotamia's artifacts

and protect mesopotamia's oil ministry

and write mesopotamia's constitution

and stand guard at mesopotamia's soil, rivers and skies
because the true owners

are too displaced
too tortured
too orphaned

too dead

to protect their own things themselves.