(TV interview: Question: “Then Bosnia is lost, Mr. Secretary?” Answer: “Oh, no, no; we are doing everything we can; no, no…” – Spring 1993)

Turning back (in anger?)
and seeing clearly: yes, then Bosnia is lost!
Lost in the coils of good will,
of global love and cosmic order,
lost in the pragmatic betrayals,
in the fog of political correctness,
in fears, and tears, and global suspicions,
the global tribal “ancient hatreds,”
in London, and Paris, Washington, Geneva,
in promises, and shares, and stocks, and concessions…

Lost and found, found and lost:
Destroyed—a dream, illusion, a promise?
Stretched on the negotiating and cocktails tables –
An item, a martini, a commodity, a pawn…
A scream, tearing the world apart,
A groan–hardly audible next door!
Yes, WE are doing EVERYTHING we can,
and even more…even more…

What a question!

Of course Bosnia is lost!
Of course Bosnias are always lost!

Originally published in Grand Valley Review, Vol. IX, Fall 1993, p. 21 – © 2007 Ivo Šoljan

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