Day 994

Why, when everyone
seems to have turned their eyes
from you, has your child
been suddenly trapped
under the rubble?
She was playing
in front of an abandoned
building, a building
where once people lived.
She knew to watch the sky;
everyone knows, now,
to watch the sky. Why,
when the world
is using terms like ceasefire,
has nothing ceased? Why
this child, who was delicate,
small, who couldn’t
have harmed anyone?
Now she is buried
under stone and concrete.
Now she is silent
under the ghosts
of those who lived there.
Now they’re accepting her
into their lifeless company.