it's getting late

it's getting late

 

 

little hands wash

their faces

just before the mirror shatters

and the smiles are blown off

 

it's an almost another day

in a country where children

become adults at five or six years old

life expectancy nine

 

the lucky ones will think back some day

Wonder why the gluttony for power

is a meal some never finish

pieces of bodies for dessert

 

some guests never know when to leave.

 

 

erin-cilberto

5/29/23

Reviews

[W. Barrett Munn]

I'm reminded of Revelations: When you see the abomination of desolation standing where it ought not be.
It ought not be children, that much I am sure. The rest, unfortunately, is opium.

Winston

[jacob erin-cilberto]

yes, it ought not be.
thank you, Winston,
j.

[John the Baptist]

It's really getting bad when you read something in the morning paper about a mass shooting a couple of months back and can't recall it because there have been so many others since then. Kids today would not believe there was a time when drills consisted of sheltering beneath a school desk to protect oneself against a nuclear attack.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

Yes, those drills...the threat of nuclear attack...
you remember, I remember.
j.

[duff]

Precious moments captured with dirt. Conflicted movements. The youth pay the price.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

thank you, duff...yes, they are doing that.

[Chris Shaw]

A war zone. Could be Ukraine, could be similar elsewhere. Little children suffer and die because brutes invade other countries. Childhood is cut short. A tragedy of immense proportion. Life expectancy nine years for a child? Beggars belief. A hard hitting write J.

Chris

[jacob erin-cilberto]

yes, and even in other countries...today's youth just don't get to be kids...they have to grow up way too fast for various reasons...thanks, Chris.
j.

[Shelley Warner]

Ukraine came to my mind as I read this. Children not being able to be children for long. A thoughful poem.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

so many shortened lives...
thank you, Shelley,
j.