The Fear of War

I was sleeping peacefully

My arms holding my little babies

Just when the siren began to ring

My city was attacked, we were under siege!

I scrambled up in fear

Gathering my kids under me

My body their shield

Trying to protect them from harm

As I heard my neighbors scream!

I stumbled out of bed

The baby in my arms

My toddler right next to me

I heard the loud booms

Somewhere far, there was an explosion

I could see wafts of smoky beams!

I ran down to the shelter

That my husband had made

In an eventuality of war, he had said

Just before he went to the border 

I remembered the day

Tears running down in streams!

I hid myself, my children with me

I stayed there hidden for days thirty

I could hear bangs and sounds far above

I would pray everyday for safety of my home

Then one day, the sounds all stopped

I waited until finally I was out on the streets!

I opened the hatch slowly

To my underground refuge

I peeped carefully to see around me

Before I could see through the deluge

Of blood and gore, organs and bodies

There lay a heap of many arms and feet!

I stepped through them gingerly

Someone was dancing, 

I could hear the sound of music

We won...someone screamed past me

But my eyes could not believe

If this carnage was a win

A total disaster, to me it seemed!

Just then I saw

My husband huddling towards me

His left leg was a stump

His eye hidden behind a patch

He smiled at me, hugged our kids

I ran into his arms, as my eyes grinned!

I was thankful to survive

But I wondered everyday

The nightmares kept me up

As I heard the bombs in my head

The fear of war is as bad

As surviving the war itself!