The mind wants to see
horrors in black and white.
War as newsreel abstractness,
not in clarity of bright light.

Not in color of death’s blue
nails of translucent hands
and bloods brown red hue.

Fires bright orange and golds
exploding on our stage
as the bitter fight unfolds.

Chasing the shadows of pain
on the faces of survivors
showing wars ugly scar and stain.

Impossible to believe this is live
and not some apocalyptic movie
scene which we may forget and forgive.

But it is real, it is who we really are
and have always been, even though
we think we’ve advanced so far