(Today felt man’s inhumanity to man.)

An Unsuspecting Beirut Day

It was an unsuspecting Beirut day.
Alongside the ancient Mediterranean.
The Great Sea prepared bear witness.

An Embassy, its mission quite vital.
American finesse and savoir-faire,
Bilateral relations … negotiations …
Expert execution for resolution.
Aiding those evading persecution.

Our embassy, diplomacy at work.
Indisputable influence and impact.
Visas and tariffs, but far from all,
Foreign Service delicacy standing tall,
Territorial tensions nipped once again.

“Open Thy Doors, Lebanon,
So That Fire May Devour Thy Cedars.”
Zechariah 11:1

It was an unsuspecting Beirut day.
Where, inconceivably, the hatred of man
Outran, momentarily, the love of God,
As Embassy walls of solace and strength,
Now gone … a shock of biblical proportion

Our fears … our edifice, oasis, our haven,
Today felt man’s inhumanity to man.
Our downed fortress in a foreign land.
Innocent lives lost … unjustifiable means,
Radical, irrational, extremes … to an end.

Its shock and legacy still reverberate.
Hate, its consequences beyond Beirut;
Hearts still broken, what might’ve been?
We can cry no more but always do, still,
Until, we again embrace … face-to-face.

Gates opened simultaneously at 1:05,
to Hell for one … to Heaven for the rest.

Family taken today … evil took you away.
Manifesting without warning, as evil does;
And, sometimes, we can’t say goodbye.

It was an unsuspecting Beirut day.