NOMINATED,
SIDERIUS SHORT POETRY
COMPETITION, 2024
SIDERIUS SHORT POETRY
COMPETITION, 2024
Amal, whose name means ‘hope’, has starved to death.
At checkpoints, laden lorries were delayed
(what few there were). Her final gasping breath
amidst the sound of rifle-fire was stayed.
Ahlam, whose name means ‘dreams’, has lost her home.
Her neighbourhood got bombed and was destroyed;
the roads, her school, the mosque’s protective dome.
Her life that was, is now an orphan’s void.
Barak, whose name means ‘blessèd’, lies stone still
upon a mattress, in a makeshift tent.
His legs got amputated and the chill
of fever points towards a life soon spent.
When crimes ’gainst children’s guiltlessness take place,
what light can tarnished innocence embrace?
At checkpoints, laden lorries were delayed
(what few there were). Her final gasping breath
amidst the sound of rifle-fire was stayed.
Ahlam, whose name means ‘dreams’, has lost her home.
Her neighbourhood got bombed and was destroyed;
the roads, her school, the mosque’s protective dome.
Her life that was, is now an orphan’s void.
Barak, whose name means ‘blessèd’, lies stone still
upon a mattress, in a makeshift tent.
His legs got amputated and the chill
of fever points towards a life soon spent.
When crimes ’gainst children’s guiltlessness take place,
what light can tarnished innocence embrace?
