A whistle blows- a missile takes flight,
Blows the dome- the mythical iron dome-
It pretended to be so polite!
Earlier-
Targets marked- people died,
Cost- unknown,
Lives destroyed- dead bodies crumbled under the rubble so benign!
Yet, the night is young-
Madmen drinking and applauding the dead,
Mocking them- in the digital delight!
A child hung in arrow- too young to flee,
A woman shot- too heavy to be free,
A man stabbed-too passionate to die,
Martyred in the name of religion and regionality!
Oh, the rogue ‘ethno-supremacy’!!
Collateral damage everywhere-
In the brain,
In the vein,
In the bloodstream,
In the ocean,
In the voice filled with vice,
A cat race played by the mice,
Killing people like lice,
And, chewing and licking fingers- as if their mouths are filled with filthy rice,
You kill thrice-
In the meanwhile the revolutionaries shot you-twice!
Tweaking ice!
Piercing eyes!
Garnered and revered and feared and reared and geared and seared and smeared and severed and steered –
Through the spike!
Collateral damage -that’s the price people pay for a slice-
Horns and horns everywhere-
Horns of Gebon and Horns of Suez,
Hormuz to Atlantica,
Dead sea to panama-
How many dead to be offered for?!
Offered for- mercy rain!?
Oh, the drain is filled with young rage and blood spilled red-
Red- Red-Red- collateral damage everywhere!
Dreams shattered-
Joys flattened –
In the blurry flame-
In the vague infected blame-
But, the aspiring civilizations will speak the name,
In the steel and clean plate-
We will remember the collateral damage,
Murmuring in the rubble- A civilization will develop from the ashes and oh, yes, it will definitely ace!
©® Farheen Bhuiyan Nancy
Time Frame: 9.48 pm, MIST, Mirpur Cantonment, Dhaka-1216.