Echidne of the Snakes has written a poignant, lyrical song, "To the Dead Children." I can't even skim over it without my eyes filling with tears. And now I find that I can't write about it, either. This...this is beautiful beyond beautiful. It drains my fury and hatred and fills the emptiness with yearning and grief deeper than language, sorrow and yet a strange, rough kind of solace.
Thanks, Echidne.
This is the song of the earth to all the children who have died in wars and acts of terrorism, or maybe a faint echo of it:
These are my children, the dead ones, the beloved: the ones covered in mud and dirt, the bloodied ones, the limbless ones, the ones who were scattered by bombs like crumbs thrown for the birds. These are my children: the burned ones, the raped ones, the starved ones, the buried ones. See how beautiful they all are, my beloved children.
I seek for them everywhere, I call for them and at nightfall I find them. I gather them to me and give them sleep. The night I turn into a silken shawl, the sky into a blue blanket. I weave cradles and nests out of my hair, and I find a place for each one of my children, however hurt and frightened.
My lap is wide enough for all of them and their pain, and I give them dreams of pine forests, of fresh streams in sunlight, of young foxes gambolling in a clearing. I give them dreams of peace and quiet, of stars and sailboats, of flowers and meadows. I give them dreams of snow and sun and sweetness. I give them what was taken away from them and when I cannot do that I give them oblivion and rest. And the wind sings a lullaby, gently, in all my tongues.
It is my milk that feeds all, and my tears that sate all thirst, and these children, my beloved, will never lack food or drink or a place to slumber in my lap or a peace that cannot be broken..
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