'Lo'

‘Lo’

Bloodied hands 
Caress a young girl’s hairpin.
Violence collides
With honey-dewed loveliness.

Hatred discovers guilt.
Her face, he sees 
In the moving target.
One shot.

That hurts atrociously, sir.

Ruby jewels, crimson bubbles
Rise from the lips she kissed.

She lingers fragrantly,
Forever and never again.
He hears the children’s voices.
Distant now. 
Without the lilt
Of her golden laughter.