Casualties of War

The sun has arisen
how beautiful the morning seems
to those who walk this land.
The dogs are barking as they
chase cats up the trees,
kittens are meowing looking for their mommies.

Old man and his wife of fifty years,
work in their garden with pride
as the young folk ask for guidance.
This will fill their shelves as it
always has, what is left will go
to the strays.

Children are finding their way outside,
just another day to play with their friends nearby.
The plans were made just yesterday,
morning hide and seek and then maybe a ball game.
Their bellies are not as full as they should be,
but that is nothing out of the normal for them
so they ignore their hunger pains.

A business man just across the way
is ready to open up shop today.
He sees the pain of his community,
it has lived in poverty for many centuries.
It had always been like this since he could remember,
when he can he passes out commodities to
those that he knows always go without.

And then it happens!
Sirens are going off!
This cannot be good!
Death is near to those who understood!

Missiles made from Satan's hands are flying through the air,
striking everyone who stands near.
It does not search only for the evil man, it kills all in its wake.
The children who had their play dates planned,
now lay silent in a puddle of blood on the ground.
Their bodies are mangled, what there is left,
their beautiful faces now resemble the angel of death.

The elderly man cradles his wife of fifty years,
he face is wet with his tearful memories.
He had hoped he would be the one to go first,
he had never imagined that this would be the end
to a beautiful marriage.

A mother has finally freed herself from her homes destruction,
she races from her once comforting house in search of her family.
Dropping to her knees she can run no farther,
she sees the remains of  her daughter.
She weeps as she screams for help,
she can smell the burnt flesh and bones protruding from her body.
She knows this is the end but she cannot except it,
she still screams for help knowing it won't come.
Everything goes numb!

Thousands of miles away people bicker
about who is right and who is wrong.
Who cares about the death toll and blood shed?
Who cares about the truth that is so easily found
in our history books, we fight on like we have
something to say that will change the truth of yesterday.

As we look beyond the truth
and those that lay silent in homemade graves,
we think to ourselves without a tear in our eye
they received what they deserved,
good riddance and good bye!

For they were not humans you see,
we call them nothing more than Casualties of War!