March...



Vivaldi's four Seasons is blasting away as I am typing these lines.
Concerto no.1 "Spring" is now being played.

I usually like to view Spring as Nature ushering us into a new cycle, a new rebirth on the wheel of Life and Death.
Spring has been traditionally associated by various folks as a new year, the 21st of March to be more precise. A day where Nature's colors and brightness erase the dim, tenebrous memories of the grey winter sky...

In the Middle East this date is celebrated by Persians and Kurds amongst others as Nawrooz (the new year). This date is also Mother's day in this part of the world.

I find it more than coincidental that Mother's day, i.e the one who gives birth is also celebrated on that same date which corresponds to the Spring Equinox. Nature in fact gives birth to all living things in Spring.

Because this day is laden with symbols, my mind wanders automatically to Nature's mysterious and orderly ways.
Everything buds and burgeons in Spring. From the tiniest nascent blade of grass, to some wild flower caught in the cracks of a pavement, to Jasmin and Orange blossom trees... Even palm trees grow small offshoots of bright fresh green leaves.
Here is "Mother" Nature conceiving, gestating, and preparing herself for her final delivery in Summer or early Autumn.

End of march, the Spring Equinox, is also the month where Nature's lands were forcefully and violently invaded.
First they penetrated Her with tons and tons of bombs before Her soil was marched on by foreign boots, planting on their way seeds of destruction and death. Impregnating Her earth, water and air with millions of chemical and radioactive germs and particles, lingering in her womb like some tenacious spermatozoa, fertilizing Her by sheer brutality and force...

And since that day, 4 years ago, the day of conception, Nature has been delivering out nothing but cadavers.
In fact she has been constantly pregnant with a belly full of corpses. And if per chance She does go through protracted labor pains, she instantly drops deformed, wounded and injured faces or some lone limb and pieces of desiccated flesh, scattering them generously all over this land.

And since it is also Mother's day here, naturally my thoughts go to the thousands of Mothers in this putrefied land...

The Mother who lost her child, the Mother who lost her brother, sister, father, mate, her own Mother...
The childless Mother who wants to become a mother but fears conceiving lest these foreign boots kick her in her womb.
The Mother who weeps, the Mother who grieves, the Mother permanently dressed in black, the Mother who soaks her pillow during sleepless nights with silent tears...
The Mother who is arrested and imprisoned. The Mother who is raped and made pregnant against her will. The Mother who is tortured. The Mother who is executed...
And the Mother who has no access to medical care or food. The Mother living on the dirty pavements of Cairo, Damascus or Amman selling anything to feed her kids...
The Mother who is insulted, spat on and humiliated at checkpoints and borders...
The Mother in permanent exile, exiled in her own house and in her own land, afraid of walking the streets...

And naturally again, my thoughts take a turn and go the Motherless child. Thousands of them, scattered like tiny pearls from a broken necklace...

And that cursed month of March, the Spring, the New Year for some...Another true Iraqi has been assassinated. His lawyer Bushra al Khalil said that she sent letters to the U.N secretary general and even to Bush, arguing that Taha Yassin Ramadan was a prisoner of war and that he was under the custody and responsibility of the Americans... Her letters went unanswered.
Furthermore, the Americans would not allow her to attend the Trial since there were "very serious death threats" against her if she lands in Baghdad, so they declared.
Saddam Hussein was executed on New Year's eve and Taha Yassin Ramadan was executed on another New Year's eve...
A symbol for the symbiosis of shared interests...in the Triangle of Hatred America/Iran/The Kurds (read Israel).

Yes they invaded in March, right before Mother's day and the New Year of the Spring Equinox...
Marching in, spitting, cursing, kicking, destroying and massacring everything and everyone on their way...turning the green spring pastures into a killing field irrigated with red blood...

Vivaldi is still blasting away. Concerto no.4 "Winter" is now playing...
Winter is traditionally associated with Endings. Where everything dies preparing itself for rebirth in Spring...
For four years we seem to be stuck in the winter of our lives. We seem to be stuck with Death...

And since Vivaldi wrote sonnets to go with his Four Seasons I will quote for you his winter piece:
"We tread the icy path slowly and cautiously, for fear of tripping and falling.
Then turn abruptly, slip, crash on the ground and, rising,
hasten on across the ice lest it cracks up.
We feel the chill north winds course through the home despite the locked and bolted doors..."


I just noticed tiny droplets of rain gently knocking on my window."Mother" Nature is crying yet once more...And in Iraq her tears are made of blood.

Painting: Iraqi artist, Ali Talib, "Mesopotamia crying"


Comments

Iraqi Mojo said…
What a great artist Ali Talib is, this painting is one of the best i have seen.
Great article btw, you certainly have a gift.
Layla Anwar said…
Thanks Barabie. Yes Talib is very good...Iraqi art is just stupendous, don't you think?
Iraqi Mojo said…
Layla from the artworks you have posted, it would be hard to choose my favourite. They are all good, it's just this one really moved me.
Anonymous said…
You have an amazing way of starting in one place and ending in another hemisphere, without leaving the ground.
As for the art, I'll pass. I don't like art that's offensive and this piece (although appropriate for the article) belongs in a dungeon.
I can see this being in the grand entrance to one of you're beloved Saddam'palaces...hahaha

The walk of the kurds, (last post)is beautiful!!

prop
Anonymous said…
Iam not from the middle east but i do share your faith...I was wondering...being your neighbours and basically of similar faith and heritage...why would Iran be interested in wrecking havoc in Iraq?
What have they to gain from it?
And i was deeply disturbed that while Bush was preparing for war against iraq...Saddam did not seek the help of his neighbours....or did he? and they turned him down?
Perhaps a lot of ppl like me are anxious about your future but helpless watching chaos unfold on CNN/BBC...
Anonymous said…
Thank you, Layla, for keeping us informed and also for exposing us to beautiful Iraqi art.

Keep up the great work you are doing to expose the barbarians.
Anonymous said…
Your creativity cannot be matched by any other I have seen Layla.
Under different circumstances (or perhaps even now) your words could certainly be published to a much larger audience than simply the internet.

As spring comes to USA we see political sprouts, growing into a tangled vine of corruption, lies, betrayal, hatered, violence, and absolute ignorance.

It is becoming so much more and more obvious, day by day, as to the fact that our "president" is a dictator in the making. He goes so far as to brazenly LIE and DEFY not only the "check and balance" system of government but also the citizens of USA as well.
It is ALL so OBVIOUS.

My greatest hope for the coming spring would be the growth of the current grassroots movements into a mobilization of a structured militia with the determination and fortitude to invade our own currently seperated and broken disfunctional government and take back the rights that have been taken from us.
To stop the bloodshed.
To punish the guilty.
To rebuild, and promote peace and honest good will.

But, Again, This is only the hope of one voice...

God bless Layla.
Ike
Anonymous said…
The painting is so powerful and so your article.Very sad.
Rest in peace Taha Yassin Ramadan and all Iraqi martyrs.
How many more people they will kill before their hatred will be satisfied ?Bloodsuckers.
Anonymous said…
Just wanted to add,those eyes when you brighten you can see they are so sad : (
Anonymous said…
Your heart, Layla...your immense, selfless heart forged by Iraq's ever burning sacred flame and inured to life and death...your wounded heart swollen with an absolute, sovereign wrath and but bleeding pearls of poignant tenderness, courage and hope for all of us plundered of spirits as of material riches to pick up and treasure in our own emptied chests...your "alchemic laboratory" where the lead of all times sorrow is converted into the gold of eternal pride...that is what is more "stupendous" and of a work of art in my eyes than all man-made wonders on earth...

God bless you, dear sister, loyal Iraqi, honorable Arab, memorable human being...

Yours affectionately,

Hala H.
Layla Anwar said…
Prop,

The dungeon that you refer to has been created by americans possibly like yourself...laughing their heads off as thousands die...
Seems you folks will never leave your despicable ways.
Layla Anwar said…
anonymous 2

Iran has ALREADY wrecked havoc in Iraq. You need to understand the long history between these two countries for starters and secondly, Iran is interested in expanding her so called Revolutionary islamic republic...and it has already done so by installing along with the amreicans a puppet govt run by Sadr, Al Hakim and al Maliki...all dual puppets and paid agents for both irans and the us.
Layla Anwar said…
Ike, hello ,
You are not doing too badly yourself. Absolutely loved your comment.
Stay safe and God bless
Layla Anwar said…
Dear Hala.H,

Thank you. You write like a poet yourself...very beautiful contribution.
Stay safe and God bless
Anonymous said…
Believe it or not but I played Vivaldi in Iraq, with Sommer chamber music.

Great post, and thank you for awaking
good memories.
Layla Anwar said…
Wow Ladybird, you are musician too...wonderful!
Anonymous said…
My fellow American," Howard Friedman, President of AIPAC, begins his letter of July 30 to friends and supporters of AIPAC, "Look what you've done"! After warning that "Israel is fighting a pivotal war for its life," by which he means Israel's wanton slaughter and all-out destruction in Lebanon, Freiedman condemns "the expected chorus of international condemnation of Israel's actions" and Europe's call for "a cease-fire immediately." Then he exults: "only ONE nation in the world came out and flatly declared: Let Israel finish the job. . That nation is the United States of America..."

"AIPAC meets with every candidate running for Congress. These candidates receive in-depth briefings to help them completely understand the complexities of Israel's predicament and that of the Middle East as a whole. We even ask each candidate to author a 'position paper' on their views of the U.S.-Israel relationship--so it's clear where they stand on the subject." (Would it not be great to see these "position papers"? I wonder how many candidates would release them? And what do the candidates get for all this effort? A pat on the back?)

"Members of Congress, staffers and administration officials have come to rely on AIPACs memos. They are VERY busy people and they know that they can count on AIPAC for clear-eyed analysis.. We present this information in concise form to elected officials. The information and analyses are impeccable--after all our reputation is at stake. This results in policy and legislation that make up Israel's lifeline."

http://www.counterpunch.org/ wals...sh08162006.html

Any wonder the USA has become the "United States of Israel?"
The US is nothing more than a vassal state of Israel, doing that nation's murderous tasks of eliminating any nation or group of people that Israel deems an "enemy."
AIPAC barks out a command and the US gladly lets loose its powerful armed forces to wreck havoc, death and destruction on all things Moslem/Arab.
Israel says that it is the only friend in the Middle East the US has???
i can't help thinking that before Israel came into
existence, the US had noe enemies in the Middle East
Anonymous said…
Layla
You can blame the Americans for the chaos in Iraq, but you can't blame the persians for the payback to arabs. You also can't blame the Shia' for the payback to the sunni's.
The problem is that arabs may be worse than the Americans when it comes to creating monsters. At least America has some European friends that'll back them up. Arabs, who do they have? No one. Not fellow countrymen or fellow muslims. Why? Because they're not loyal to anyone. their loyalty only goes until the benefits run out, then they'll turn on you or kill you and move on to the next idiot who takes that spot. Yep, that's the arabs for you. A people that has shown throughout history they can't be trusted and now, looking at Iraq, arabs like yourself, come on websites and lament about days of old. Crying "where are our muslim brothers?" When in fact, fellow muslims are slaughtering each other in the name of being a 'persian or arab'. Alliances have shifted and faith is currently taking a back seat to nationality.
Calling oneself a muslim used to be the defining factor of a person in the middle east, but that's no longer the case. Not only has the persian and arab distinction become part of the equation, but we're also seeing the influence or lack thereof, from many Middle Eastern countries as well. Iraq is a huge runaway train and noone can stop it. Meanwhile the world sits, waits, watches and does nothing. It's all so damn tiring and so damn old.
maybe you should call the UN and complain about human rights in Iraq. Tell them what americans are doing. who knows, maybe someone will feel sorry for the arab woman wailing on a blog about the plight of the 'arabs'. Then again, maybe not. I certainly wouldn't.
Layla Anwar said…
bla bla bla bla bla bla..am most impressed anonymous brave one.
Anonymous said…
It is not hatred it is greed. Take over the world crap. Why cannot people leave each other
alone. Because with0ut your
resources we could never survive.
How selfish.
Anonymous said…
keepn on your great work layla
i think i will post again the link and the whole blog on my space, because all must know this.
good luck and we hope the war finally ends.
greetings from argentina

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