Christmas is sights, especially the sights of Christmas reflected in the eyes of a child.
-- William Saroyan
Of course, this is the season to be jolly, but it is also a good time to be thinking about those who aren't.
-- Helen Valentine
We thought, because we had power, we had wisdom.
-- Stephen Vincent Benet
"Litany for Dictatorships"
O Little Town of Ramadi
(words and music
by Justice Putnam)
(roughly to the tune "O Little Town of Bethlehem")
O little town of Ramadi,
How still we see thee lie!
Above we creep above your dreamless sleep
As silent as stars we go by;
Yet in thy dark streets shineth
Our Everlasting Might!
The hopes and fears of all these years
Are met in thee tonight.
For we have deemed thee worthy
As we gathered all above
To see who sleeps and those who keep
Their lives from our eyes above.
O mourning cries together
Proclaim another death,
By bombs come from the clouds
Above and kissed with fiery breath!
Now silently, Now silently
The wondrous gift is given!
As body parts and human hearts
Are blasted to high heaven.
No ear will hear our coming;
As we bash the front door in,
Where meek souls will receive us, still
And no one will know our sins.
O little Child of Ramadi,
We bombed your house today
We cast out our sin, as we enter in,
And pillage what’s left away.
We hear the Christian Angels
Their great glad tidings say;
Obey you must, abide you must,
A secret prison is only steps away!
© 2006 by Justice Putnam
Fleur de Sel Musique
and Mechanisches-Strophe Verlagswesen
(cross posted on
tribe.)