On this day in 2003

March 20 2003

On this day last year in the morning, before leaving home, I kneel in front of the radio before switching it off, as I hear that flights have left I try to mutter "you bastards" under my breath but instead my mouth stretches into an involuntary sob and tears take my face by surprise. I go to work feeling shattered. On this day last year everyone is quiet, but for the sound of news presenters and the silent patter of millions of hits on web news sites. Everyone, everywhere, in every country, city, town and offbeat track is waiting. Some are waiting for their cue. Demonstrations have been organised to synchronise with the day the first bombs fall on Iraq. In something of a ripple effect, a bomb drops on Baghdad and thousands of placards flap across the globe, like butterflies, like migratory birds preparing to take leave, an evacuation of the soul.

On this day last year rationality deserts us, all.

Radio in Iraq, about this time last year.

At some stage on this day last year I shuffle through old things, looking for a song, I find it Sinead Oconnors Drink before the War (ever noticed how everyone sings differently those lines "So stop, something something, something not gonna something"? Mine is; "So stop, you bastards are not goin' t' heaven") This time this year I dig out Ben Harper;

Ben Harper Amen Omen

What started as a whisper
slowly turned
into a scream
searching for an answer
where the question is unseen

I don't know where you came from
and I dont know where u'v gone
old friends become old strangers
between the darkness and the dawn

Amen omen
will I see your face again
amen omen
can I find the place within
to live, my life
without you

I still hear you saying
all of life, it is chance
and is sweetest, is sweetest, when at a glance
but I live
I live a hundred, a hundred lifetimes in a day
but I die a little
in every breath that I take

Amen omen
will I see your face again
amen omen
can I find the place within
to live my life
without you

I listen to a whisper
slowly drift away
silence is the loudest, parting word, you never say
I put, I put your world
into my veins
and now a voiceless sympathy is all that remains

Amen omen
will I see your face again
amen omen
can I find the place within
to live my life, without you

Amen omen
will I see your face again
amen omen
can I see your face again
amen omen
can I find the strength
to live, my life