Prayers

Prayers 

America prays for the astronauts
Will the heat shield hold
Or will the holocaust incinerate them
As with their predecessors
In the Columbia Space Shuttle
Who upon atmospheric reentry
Heard a click
And had just a few ticks
To contemplate their fate

I pray for the Darfuri
The slaughtered men, women and children
Who are guilty, in the evil eyes 
Of their brown Baggara tormentors
Of having black skin.
Though are innocent of sin.

America prays for the astronauts
And their proud though fretful families
And we wonder what
The Columbia crew contemplated
When the warning light turned red
There must be some mistake
Please God, no, please God no
Did they think of their loved ones?
Did they scream in sheer terror 
At their impending disintegration?

I pray for the Darfuri 
Boys and girls who watch
The bloody gore of their fathers
Hacked to slushy red pulp with machetes
And witness the abomination of their mothers 
Being raped, then murdered
With bullets, knives or rocks.
I wonder what fate
They contemplate
As they run for cover
And for what’s left of their lives

America cheers for the astronauts
As parachutes pop, picture perfect
Three-two-one-splashdown! 
Four heroes smiling and waving
The ordeal is over.

I cry for the Darfuri
Their rotting corpses left to vultures
Four hundred thousand human beings
Dead and counting.