JOYEUX NOËL
for Madeleine Albright
Was it worth it (perhaps
it was) that past
generations should die,
that Christ's
birth be accompanied by
a massacre, that we
should learn - not
to avoid war, we don't,
it seems, have that
ability, but
to generate
tears - for only
tears have the ability
to wash away all that
accumulated filthiness
of the death
of the babies
that marked
the birth
of Christ.