These two places drowning
in hostility and horror
with no end in sight
remind the world that
no one is immune from terror.
With each passing day of
angry aggression
there can be no winners.
All are suffering to survive.
All have experienced catastrophic
events these last weeks.
All are struggling to understand —
and to live.
Blood in the streets.
Bodies left to rot.
Cars and buildings ablaze.
The guns of war are strong.
The people stronger.
There will have to be an end.
An understanding of each
other’s need for existence.
This may not come too quickly.
Certainly, not easily.
Hate will maintain an impasse
of ideologies.
Only time will heal the wounds.
Exhaustion, stop the killing
and bring peace or,
at least, cease the spiral of death.
