THE SOUND OF WAR

Lightning flashes in the clouds.

I hear the boom and echo 
of detonations in the distance.

I hear the sound of war.

Bashar al-Assad uses white phosphorus

on women and children.

It blisters and burns.  
Fire devours their lungs.

Their footprints are soon 
effaced in the dust.

I hear the roar of the mob, democracy in the raw.

Intelligence is flattened, nuance is lost.

A diplomat in denial doesn't point with a finger,

he points with a gun. 
Russia votes down a no-fly zone. 
The killing goes on.

Lightning flashes in the clouds.

I hear the boom and echo 
of detonations in the distance.

I hear the sound of war.