Member-only story
Close Your Eyes and Imagine a World Without War
A Poem
oh, maybe we knew it was coming all along —
a fiery conflict we could not avoid far away,
pain we could not hope to stem before it flowed —
but it was an easier day, yesterday,
when I could pretend it was all okay
oh, I would say don’t waste your tears —
but what is the point now, with so much lost?
cry, yes, cry out loud and scream —
it only makes sense in a world like this,
one that’s already past the point of madness
oh — what I would give for last week,
or maybe a month ago — years ago —
when the noise did not build and build,
those images so stark and vivid,
all those atrocities in a land far off
oh, I can’t watch — or that’s what I say,
what I try to tell myself — such lies —
but I keep myself locked in,
as if the viewing will cleanse me
of all this guilt I feel as an outsider
