Jets cut across a quiet sky;
I brace for impact.
Wonder who and what will be hit,
caught up in fire and shrapnel.
Peace was a flammable promise
I’d hoped would never burn,
but now sovereignty is a threat
so bored strangers give the order.
All this beauty is temporary:
these stone walls will crumble,
filling the canal with rubble and ash –
the sun obscured by black smoke.
Promise me that day won’t come.
Lay me to rest in a quiet apartment,
curtains drawn over the windows,
so if the bombs come...
I brace for impact.
Wonder who and what will be hit,
caught up in fire and shrapnel.
Peace was a flammable promise
I’d hoped would never burn,
but now sovereignty is a threat
so bored strangers give the order.
All this beauty is temporary:
these stone walls will crumble,
filling the canal with rubble and ash –
the sun obscured by black smoke.
Promise me that day won’t come.
Lay me to rest in a quiet apartment,
curtains drawn over the windows,
so if the bombs come...
-Zero