September 1982, Sabra and Chatila

I woke up that morning Where far across the earth In Beirut, in Sabra and Chatila camps Zionist butchers were hard at work

That day was to have been special It marked the anniversary of my birth Instead came the news of the massacres Sending shock waves around the earth

We had watched Israel invade Lebanon The summer of 1982 The seige and bombing of Beirut Until the PLO withdrew

The PLO left the city With the salute of the people in their eyes Trusting the word of the Americans It would be their wives and children who would die

The Israelis surrounded Sabra and Chatila camps Trapping the old men, women and children within Then their trucks brought the Phalange through their lines And they ordered the massacre to begin

They killed all day until night fall But the mercy of darkness brought no relief For Israeli flares soon lit up the sky So the rest from bloodshed would be brief

The killers went house to house Even killing the dogs it was said Planting booby traps beneath the bodies To kill those who had come to bury their dead

So Why? Why? Why must I ask why? That these killers and their masters Have not been tried And sentenced to die?

THOMAS MOUNTAIN can be reached at: brotom@lava.net