Elegy for Margaret Hassan

by Christine Rodgers

What finally

breaks

the heart then.

Surely seeing

your beloved

wife in a crudely

shot video – a

blindfold pulled

tight across

her face – her

precious face –

and suddenly

a gun – a gun

appearing at

point blank range

and firing.  Surely

that would do it.

Surely that would

break your heart.

November 2004

Quartet for Margaret Hassan

by Christine Rodgers

There is a woman begging for her life.

There is a woman begging for her

There is a woman begging for

There is a woman begging

There is a woman

There is a

There is

There.

I hear her choking out her words from my radio – she sounds like a cornered

animal who can talk – she is bleating – pleading – screaming through gauze.

Can

you

please

please

please

help

me.

She

     will

            not

                live

                       long

                               this

                                      woman-

                                            she is

                             too afraid

                 too raw

too undone.

She is

          already

                        undone.

                                        Anyone

                         can

                 see

       that.

October 2004

Christine Rodgers is an actor and writer living in San Francisco, California, who considers both acting and writing to be forms of giving witness and of praying. She is a regular contributor to The Witness , and may be reached by email at tallpilgrim12@hotmail.com .