After

I wrote this poem a few years ago.  I don't remember now why I didn't post it here.  I post it now even though Ramadan, and the iftar meal will be celebrated in June - July.

***

After fasting, after days of self-reflection
            after prayer comes feasting,
            comes celebration.

Music plays and children laugh
as the dates are passed;
the iftar meal begins.
And father is home now.
He hugs those children
he so dearly missed.

After detention, after prison-camp interrogation
            after captivity comes release,
            comes freedom.

Unnoticed comes the bomber
with explosives strapped
to her breasts.
She exploded – ignoring the prophet’s words:
and take not life which Allah has made sacred
except by way of justice and law.

After detonation, after smoke and burning rubble
            after the blast comes blood,
            comes death.

Iftar is the meal that is celebrated at the end of the days of fasting during the month of Ramadan celebrated by Muslims.  On September16, 2008 a female suicide bomber blew herself up among police officers who were celebrating the release of a friend from a U.S. detention camp.  At least 20 were killed (including the man who’d been released, his parents and his two children) and 30 were wounded.

The quotation from the Quran is found at Al-Anam 6:151