Behind the war zone
On the pages that follow, I have gathered together materials that give background on the Shields, and on the situation in Iraq leading up to the war. It includes all the poetry and songs I wrote in Iraq, many of them love lyrics. But often the elements are interlinked, as in this poem I wrote early one morning, waiting to quench my thirst at a juice-seller's stall:
Waiting
I am waiting,
waiting for the juice-seller's stall to open,
my friends to waken so I can shower and change my sleep-soiled clothes,
for emails from home which take up to two days to get through,
for the coming of the bombs.
I am living in suspense:
so busy, so many meetings, so much talk,
not enough action,
so many welcomes,
yes, and some goodbyes.
I am waiting.
But it is not true that everything comes to him who waits.
Their subjects are not all the same person. But to me all loves are one love. As I said in a song I sang at a friend's wedding:
Like Solomon of old, the love we bear each other
Reflects the love of God; there is no other.
