Day 1,108

No one dares go
to retrieve his body, the child
who was killed
for wandering into
the soldier’s aim. No one
dares go, since everyone knows
to cross into that realm
is to be murdered as well.
So the child’s little body
is left to starving dogs,
dogs who used to live
in houses, houses
where people
fed them, cared for them.
Where is the mother
who bathed
the child’s body, brushed
his hair, patiently
tied his shoe, buttoned
his jacket? Everything gone,
everything decomposing.
What hasn’t been eaten
by dogs is consumed now
by rats. Maggots.
Other insects.