Srebrenica Elegy

the sun burned
in its sky
above the killings
the sun still burns
in its sky
above potočari’s graves

what we will never know
can only imagine
is their fear

what we will never feel
can only imagine
are their tears

what we will never hear
can only imagine
are the shots
the ones that killed the man
or the boy
standing beside them

what we will never know
can only imagine
is the silence
the emptiness that came after
the silence
the emptiness that remains
all the hopes that were never realized
all the prayers that went unanswered

they knew
from the moment they were taken
that they
would not be allowed to live
they knew it
from the coldness
in their killers’ eyes
they knew it
from their killers’ laughter
they knew it
because hatred unleashed
any supremacism unleashed
leads to pilica
leads to ponary
leads to jasenovac
leads to kigali

their mothers
wives
sisters
daughters
knew
from the moment
their sons
husbands
brothers
fathers
were torn from their arms
that they
would not be allowed to live
they knew it
from the malignance
of the cursing republika srpska thugs
of the bosnian chetniks
as they marched the men
boys
away at gunpoint
they knew it
from the lust
in the bosnian chetniks’ eyes
as they leered
at the mothers
wives
sisters
daughters

the murdered bosniak men
boys
were not the first
they
will not be the last
but they
cry out from their graves
to be remembered
for who they were
for how they died
for the terror they felt
for the tears they shed
for the shots they heard
for the silence that followed
for the emptiness that followed
for the darkness that followed
for all they were not allowed
to become

the bosniak boy at pilica
the jewish child at ponary
the serb infant at jasenovac
the tutsi girl at Kigali
are on our conscience
they are our conscience
our compass
if we forget them
our souls
will turn to stone
our eyes
will never again
shed tears

​it was my student
adisada
who first taught me
about srebrenica
“my home country is destroyed”
she taught me
“thousands of bosnian women and girls
were raped and ravaged”
she taught me
“thousands of bosnian men and boys
were tortured
buried in mass graves”
she taught me
“so many of my people were slaughtered”
she taught me
“by an enemy intent on killing
every bosnian muslim”
just like so many jews were slaughtered
by an enemy intent on killing
every jew
just like so many tutsis were slaughtered
by an enemy intent on killing
every tutsi

june 29, 1942
the world jewish congress
proclaims in the new york times
eastern europe has become
a “vast slaughterhouse for jews”

july 10, 1995
the young radio operator
nihad “nino” ćatić
warns
“srebrenica is turning into a vast slaughterhouse”

march 14, 1943
mordechai anielewicz
from the warsaw ghetto:
“if large-scale help does not arrive immediately
we shall look on it as indifference
to the fate of the jews of warsaw”

july 10, 1995
nino ćatić
in his last broadcast:
“will anyone in the world
come and witness
the tragedy befalling
srebrenica?
the people of this city
are disappearing”

may 8, 1943
mordechai anielewicz vanishes
into memory
in the ghetto’s ruins

july 11, 1995
nino ćatić sets out
toward tuzla
toward a freedom
he never reaches
and he, too,
disappears
into ethereal memory

at babi yar
at ponary
they shot jews
into the ravines
at pilica
they shot bosniaks
hurled their bodies
into mass-graves

at srebrenica
at pilica
at potočari
we are all
murdered bosniaks
at birkenau
at treblinka
at belsen
we are all
murdered jews
at butare
at kigali
at the nyarubuye roman catholic church
we are all
murdered tutsis
at jasenovac
we are all murdered serbs, jews and roma
at adana
at hadjin
we are all
murdered armenians

​​the dead must not be allowed
to become statistics
8,000
is as anonymous
as abstract
as 6,000,000
to remember
to truly remember
we must remember one
and another one
and then another one
we must see one face
and another face
and then another face
we must feel one agony
and then another
and then another
until we remember
one
until we see
one face
until we feel one agony
8,000 times

we remember
all the husbands
fathers
brothers
sons
taken to be slaughtered
at pilica
at potočari

we remember all the women
all the girls
who were
humiliated
violated
raped
repeatedly
viciously
by republika srpska thugs
by bosnian chetniks
all the women
all the girls
whose lives were destroyed
even as they were forced
to go on living

and we remember the killers
the rapists
who betrayed Christ
every time they slit the throat
of a bosniak man
every time they shot
a bosniak boy
every time they violated
a bosniak woman
a bosniak girl
every time they kicked
beat
killed
a bosniak child

just as there can be no forgiveness
no redemption
ever
for the ss at birkenau
for the einsatzgruppen at babi yar
for the ustaše at jasenovac
for the interahamwe at butare
there can be no forgiveness
no redemption
ever
for the killers at srebrenica
at pilica
for the rapists
at foca

​there can be no excuse
none
not ever
for beating unarmed men
boys
for murdering unarmed men
boys
for raping women
girls
and we will not forget
will not forgive
you
who still today
defend the killers
try to rationalize the slaughter
offer excuses for the rapes
you
who still today
refuse to acknowledge
atone for
the killings
the rapes
the slaughter
you
who glorify mladić
with murals
in banja luka
in bosanska gradiska
in kalinovik
in belgrade
you
whose words
still today
murder the dead
again
and again
you
who by your lies
by denying the genocide
have become
accomplices after the fact
to murder
to rape
to crimes against humanity
to ethnic cleansing
to genocide

these I recall
these I will remember
these we recall
these we must remember

we remember them
we will remember them
we must remember them
so that no one is able
no one is allowed
ever
to deny their having been
to deny that they were murdered
slaughtered
only because
of who they were
only because
their prophet was Muhammad
not Christ
if we forget them
our souls
will turn to stone
our eyes
will never again
shed tears

we remember nura mustafić
her husband hasan
her sons mirsad, alija and fuad
nura trusted dutchbat
believed the united nations would send planes
to protect them
from the shelling
the shooting
but the united nations betrayed her
alija and fuad were wounded
hasan went to bring water for his sons
and never came back
bosnian serb chetniks
took alija and fuad
murdered alija and mirsad
nura buried
hasan, mirsad and fuad
never lost hope
that alija might yet return
if we forget hasan, mirsad, alija and fuad
our souls
will turn to stone
our eyes
will never again
shed tears

​we remember
vahida ahmetović
watching her father
old
sick
no threat to anyone
being taken to a waiting bus
watching her father
looking back several times
as he walked away
both knowing
they would never see each other
again
if we forget vahida and her father
our souls
will turn to stone
our eyes
will never again
shed tears

​we remember
​ibro, nasiha and muhamed nuhanović
we remember rizo mustafić
expelled from srebrenica
by u.n. ​dutchbat soldiers
why?
because dutchbat deputy commander robert franken
cared more about his own life
cared more about his soldiers’ lives
than about ibro, nasiha, muhamed and rizo
why?
because dutchbat commander thom karremans
drank cheap liquor with mladić
while ibro, nasiha, muhamed and rizo
and all the other bosniaks
he was supposed to keep safe
were sent to be murdered
why?
because karremans
and franken
did nothing to protect
ibro, nasiha, muhamed and rizo
to save them
why?
because a callous world stood by
silently
yet again
and abandoned them
if we forget ibro, nasiha and muhamed
if we forget rizo
our souls
will turn to stone
our eyes
will never again
shed tears

​we remember esmir
torn from his mother’s arms
his throat slit as she watched
his killer
just another bosnian chetnik
just another republika srpska patrioteer
anonymous
unpunished
if we forget esmir
our souls
will turn to stone
our eyes
will never again
shed tears

​we remember
16-year-old salim mustafić
killed trying to escape
the carnage
a child who should have been
playing football with his friends
not hunted like prey
by fanatics
of hatred
if we forget salim
our souls
will turn to stone
our eyes
will never again
shed tears

we remember mevludin orić
separated from his father
when the shooting started
left for dead among the corpses
the bullets did not hit him
he escaped
survived
haunted by unending nightmares
and by the knowledge
that they found his father’s skull

​we remember
šuhreta “sabra” mujić
hugging her son
kissing him
desperately holding on to him
for another second
knowing that soon
he would be killed
for no reason
if we forget sabra mujić and her son
our souls
will turn to stone
our eyes
will never again
shed tears

emir suljagić remembers
nehrudin sulejmanović
two 21-year-olds
born the same year
in the same hospital
talking about the future
who talked about meeting
before nehrudin accompanied
wounded bosniaks from srebrenica
on a dutch truck
driven by a dutch doctor
but never reached
bratunac
and never had
the promised beer in tuzla
if we forget nehrudin
our souls
will turn to stone
our eyes
will never again
shed tears

we remember ferida
who hanged herself
after selman was murdered
and hasima
only 22 years old
when she faded
into darkness
and edina
raped
over and over
they too
are our conscience
our compass
if we forget ferida and selman
if we forget hasima and edina
our souls
will turn to stone
our eyes
will never again
shed tears

we remember
saliha osmanović
who goes to bed with tears
every night

“I go to bed with tears”
erdin
her younger son
was killed by a mortar shell
five days before
the genocide
when it was not yet
a genocide

“I go to bed with tears”
her husband
ramo
and their 19-year-old son
nermin
went with the men
saliha was put on a bus
with the women

“I go to bed with tears”
the last time saliha saw ramo
was on television
surrounded by bosnian chetniks
forced to call to nermin
and his friends
to surrender
“nermin
“come on down here”
ramo shouts
“come down all of you
‘oh nermin
“it’s safe
“I’m with the serbs”

bosnian chetniks
republika srpska thugs
killed ramo and nermin
in 2008
their bodies were found
in a mass-grave
saliha buried them
at potočari

saliha testified against mladić
at the hague
she looked into his eyes
told him she saw him
at potočari

when milorad dodik says
there was no genocide
he is telling mevludin orić
that he was not left for dead
in a mass-grave
surrounded by corpses
he is telling saliha osmanović
that she did not see mladič
at potočari
that bosnian chetniks
did not kill ramo and nermin
that she is not left a widow
who goes to bed every night
with tears

​when peter handke casts bosniaks
as perpetrators
alongside bosnian serbs
and bosnian serbs as victims
alongside bosniaks
he equates
the killers and the killed
he is denying
saliha’s truth
that her husband and sons were murdered
because they were bosniaks
he is denying
hasan nuhanović’s truth
that his parents and brother
were killed
by republika srpska thugs
in a genocide
he is exonerating mladić
he is exonerating karadzić
he is exonerating
the bosnian chetniks
the republiks srpska thugs
of their crimes

when źeljka cvijanović says
that srebrenica was retaliation
for past violence
against bosnian serbs
she justifies the cold-blooded murder
of 14-year-old senad beganović
of 15-year-old damir suljić
of 16-year-old azmir osmanović
of 16-year-old salim mustafić
she justifies the murder
of children

they all saw the guns
pointed at them
they all shed tears
they all heard the shots
they all felt
their final pain

we must now
close our eyes
drown in their tears
try to imagine
what they saw
try to feel their fear
their pain
their longing for just one more hug
one more kiss
from a wife
mother
sister
daughter
try to hear their whispers
in the wind

the sun burned
in its sky
above the killings
the sun still burns
in its sky
above potočari’s graves
and we
if we forget them
if we forget
any of them
if we forget srebrenica
our souls
will turn to stone
our eyes
will never again
shed tears