War's Smallest Cries

Children do not walk in straight lines
To avoid landmines or missile heads.
They have no concept of dying.  Wait.
That's here but not there
Where body fragments lay rotting in the
Rubble of bombed out dwellings.  Everything, everyone is
Covered in dust, soot and sand.
And there, the people scream because they
cannot hear.
The bombs have blown away their eardrums.  And
All that remains is the buzz, a sound very similar
To the little lamps on the nightstands next to their little beds.