I Am The Desert

after Carl Sanburg

Pile the bodies high in Baghdad and Tikrit,
put them in body bags for the trip home,
I am the desert, I cover all.

And pile them high in Mosul
and pile them high in the Green Zone,
put them on the planes and let me work.

Two hours, ten hours, and the passengers
ask the pilots, what place is this?
Where are we now?

But the pilots do not hear them.
Back on the ground I am the desert.
Let me work.