My mouth was shocked silent
when the bombs came.
They shattered my home,
killed my mother and father,
destroyed my world.
The older children cry
as they search for food.
Others screamed
when they lost their limbs.
I lie quiet on a broken cot
in a wrecked hospital.
If I could scream
would I be fed?
Would anyone come
to take away my pain
and my filth?
I need to scream.
I have no voice.
Written for Friday Writings #139 at Poets and Storytellers United, where the title of this piece is one of several we are invited to choose from to use as inspiration.
Goodness, and we've been seeing video after video of this horror every single day ...with no end in sight. Breaks my heart. :(
ReplyDeleteI thought I couldn't manage to write about it – but entering into the experience in this way made it possible.
DeleteA heart-wrenching poem So real and painful So many without a voice
ReplyDeleteThank you, Marja.
DeleteWhat a powerful poem Rosemary - really encapsulates the prompt (hope you are well) - Jae
ReplyDeleteThanks Jae. And yes, I'm glad to say I am well again now.
DeleteGreat title and way to bring us into the horror of war so somatically.
ReplyDeleteWhen I saw that title in the prompts, this scenario came to me immediately. The horrors are many; perhaps worst of all the effects on the very young.
DeleteIn a calm and collected and deadly seriously way you expressed the absolute horror and tragedy of what is happening in our world. Well done, my friend.
ReplyDeleteThank you – and how I wish there had been no occasion for writing any such poem.
DeleteAnd to think this is happening as we write....all too awful. Rall
ReplyDeleteYes, so awful that I have not been able to write about it until this prompt gave me a way in.
DeleteI've seen nurses actively avoid the screamers because they feel bullied and abused by them...so let's hope this survivor gets a little extra love! Intense poem.
ReplyDeletePris cilla King
This one is supposed to be a very young child, so I think the only reason nurses would not respond would be because they are too few for the number of patients. Not that the infant would know that, only that his/her distress was not being relieved.
DeleteGrim images. Thank you. (I think.) We do need reminding.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, the reminders come daily in the news.
DeleteI wish this were only fictional. Right now there are surely multiple children living this horror.
ReplyDeleteToo sadly true.
DeleteYes, a very appropriate title, reflecting on our inability to make changes in the world that we would like to see. Well written but a difficult read.
ReplyDeleteA difficult subject!
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