From Angola to Cambodia <br />from Mozambique to Bosnia <br />from Afghanistan to Iraq and Iran <br />from Egypt, Kuwait to Somalia, <br />we are the amputees, the living witness, <br />to the ghosts of war. <br /> <br />Why are landmines <br />planted in the soil of our existence - <br />in our farms, in our parks, <br />in our forests and playgrounds, <br />in all the sacred corners <br />of our lives? <br /> <br />Why are they planted <br />to betray our freedom <br />to take away our trust <br />in the soil of our existence <br />to steal away our innocense <br />and laughter and <br />to transform our days and nights <br />into screams of pain and horror? <br /> <br />How many Dianas will come and visit us? <br />How many Ottawa Conventions <br />should be signed? <br />How many Nobel Peace Prize winners <br />should be named <br />before our soil of existence <br />can be declared <br />as safety zones? <br />How many more wars should men <br />in the world create <br />to agonize <br />our spirits and bodies?<br /><br />Elizabeth Padillo Olesen<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/landmines-and-amputees/
