A people in war

These are not my monuments

not my home

they are not my people

not my children

I laugh in derision

when people express their

unity with a people in war

torn and destroyed,

raped and maimed,

eating ripped guts

and shrapnel for breakfast

their teeth breaking at the metal.

A sea of bodies to choose from

fathers looking for their daughters

sons for their mothers

wives for their husbands

words for their poets.

This place used to be a beautiful country once

of great citadels and wondrous ruins

civilization of a great people

proud people, now broken

tattered and abandoned in our prayers

i can’t stand with these people

for I don’t know how to

I don’t understand what it means

to lose your home, your heritage

your country, your beloved

and fight for survival in a foreign land

carrying your dead child

in your arms

unable to find a coffin to bury him in.