Song for the World's Children

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Song for the world's children:
in Iran, in Ukraine, in Gaza,
in so many desperate, terrified
and hungry places, 
a song that is

sorrowing, sorrowing,
a song that has no end.

Big-eyed children

with every rib showing,
hiding in the rubble,
sitting on their grandmothers' laps,
those grandmas with weary eyes,
who have seen this all their lives,
and it still makes no sense.

How can hearts harden enough

to continue warring

when they see the children:

innocent, starving,
being killed by bombs?

A normal human would

stop the endless fighting,

put down the guns,

get right to work,

boiling the water,

gathering food, clearing the road

so the aid trucks can pass.

What's more important

than feeding the children?

Not ideologies, politics,

borders or power.

An ancient soul peers through

those surrendering eyes;

it waits a thousand years

for the world to evolve.

First, feed the children.

Mop up their tears.

Then ask why we've been fighting

for all of these years?

for Sumana's prompt at What's Going On - Children