Lebanon Once More

Here are the concluding stanzas from Canadian poet Dennis Lee's "After Sabra, After Shatila."

(. . . I think of where death entered--
     in the soft of the stomach for some;
  for some at the hairline, very close to the temple . . .)

  If we mean to continue,
     continue existing on earth,
  we need not love one another.
But we must draw together, and know our enemies
     for there are things that are no longer
  acceptable,
     if the planet is not to go down.

  Our enemies are those who do not recognize
     our painful, shared community.
We must know them well,
     after Sabra . . .
  after Shatila . . .