Child of War 
For you my child,   
born to besieged city   
bathed in blood,   
  
I bow my head.   
  
Breathe deep,   
oh, child of war,   
my gift to you   
this day,   
  
the breath of life.   
  
Draw hope, from   
freedom's gasp   
inhale,   
for I   
mere mortal man,   
  
exhale humanity.   
  
I bear no arms   
against   
the beauty   
at my breast;   
  
bask in my benevolence.   
  
I cradle you,   
treasured infant.   
I, a surrogate,   
mother   
you;   
  
rest, that I might bring you shelter.   
  
Bring back my youth,   
the boy   
beneath these   
battered walls,   
  
and not the prodigy of battle.   
  
For bonded by   
a blanket,   
soaked and stained,   
you and I,   
  
our souls are still the same.   
  
Courage or cowardice,   
truth or lies,   
wisdom or folly,   
life or death;   
  
war distorts.   
  
God speed, my   
little one.   
I protect you;   
glory, grace and virtue,   
personified through   
child and man.   
  
Today, my precious, ragged urchin,   
you will live.   
Compassion for the child   
has conquered all.   
The tragedy of life that brought us here,   
Pales beneath the guiding   
hand of God.   
  
And this, my innocent of war is victory.   
  
You live, life lasts, war ends, time moves on.  

April: 2007

Rest in Peace

Marooned  
amidst a sea of marble crosses,  
you rest,  
in peace now.  
 
Fond memories  
carved by crafted hand,  
etched deep in gilded gold,  
forsake you.  
 
Players on a painted stage  
performed their ritual role.  
Poisoned promises,  
masquerades of love.  
They took what you could give,  
then left.  
 
Abandoned  
and alone, you held your own,  
until the birth.  
 
Then drop, by bright red drop,  
so she could live.  
You passed.  
 
And as you did,  
the crimson flow of life  
coursed through her veins.  
Death,  
vanquished by survival.  
 
The mind masks  
the spirit spilling out.  
You sleep,  
she misses,  
I mourn.  
 
On better days,  
I hold the helm,  
while she rests her childish heart  
upon a simple cross,  
that guides us both  
across the tidal waves of life.  
 
White beacon,  
buoyed in stormy seas,  
deliver us from evil.