THE REAL FACES OF WAR

It is not the guns you see parading the skies
It is not the propaganda you watch parading the lies
It is not the hurts, horror and hunger
It is not the danger and being made a stranger
It is not the displacement and the fears
It is not the sorrows and the tears
It is the trauma of the young
That hollow place in their hearts which they need to be strong

II
It may be like a video to you
It may be like an interesting debate to you
It may be about who is wrong or right to you
It may be about who will win or lose to you
But to the victims, it is about the debris of loved ones
The stench of the sacrifices of loved ones
The unmade memories of young lives
The lost smiles which will forever be in the archives
It is the trauma of the watching young
In the sacred place in their hearts which they need to be strong

III
Some will struggle to remember the faces
Some will struggle to forget the fleeing paces
Some will struggle to forget the mutiny of their races
Some will struggle to remember the bliss of their graces
…and their shattered brightened vases with their genuine cases
Truly traumatic are the taunts of war
Truly hateful are the dreams of the many a sore
Truly cruel are the ruins and the chore
Of rebuilding and remembering
Of reliving and forgetting
These are the real faces of war
Amoafowaa Sefa Cecilia © March 1, 2021