MICAH'S REPROACH

I gaze on what the human eye
Should never behold

Repelled
Appalled and
Compelled

Not to turn away

Sweet suffering silent
Child without a name

Fallen fully formed on cold
Concrete

Hole in your head gaping
Still red and turning
Black

Placenta wrapped around
Your legs and beautiful feet protruding

Umbilical disconnected
Binding your body

It is your right hand
Clasped against your horrified mouth
That eloquently speaks

And I am too polite
Too full of compassion
For the woman

To reveal you
To one person and a world
That does not want to know

That never wants to face
Present crimes
Preferring outrage over

Holocausts long past

Hundreds, thousands, millions
Of you incinerated

"With rest of today's waste"
Is what they said

And my mind returns
Will always return

To your one tiny hand
Covering your mouth

Protesting prophecies
We refuse to hear

My people what have I done to you?
How have I offended you?

Answer me!

(Based on a photograph, Micah 6:3, Amanda Holden's Dispatches on Channel4 and an article in the Telegraph)