Poet envisioned a unified Iraq

The 39-year-old poet Rahim al-Maliki wrote about his dreams of Iraqi unity:

If you do not love Iraq
Then do not pray with me
You, Iraq, the land of well-being
When you stand tall, we stand tall
They throw stones at your windows
But your glass has destroyed their stones.

Monday morning, this Shiite poet who wrote in the everyday language of Iraqis, was blown up by a suicide bomber. Al-Maliki, 39, was filming a gathering of sheiks meeting in a Baghdad hotel to talk about a unified strategy against al-Qaeda.

In Iraq, you can be killed for your writing. Or for being a poet engaged in your country's future.

How many of us American writers would take similar risks?