Poetry With Me

The sounds of the bombs surrounded us and I grabbed her hand so we could run. I told her to never look back, the life we had the home it was still there just now it was in our memory. We would have that home once again. Far in the future we would find a new home where we would smile and run in the fields that would be full of wild flowers. We would bask in the sun and allow ourselves to nap in the afternoon.

But today we had to keep moving, the sounds of screams and cries were surrounding us. We had to move quickly and quietly. Run until the sun wasn’t shrouded in dirt and smoke.

Our lungs were on fire from the heat and adrenaline. She didn’t complain even though I would accept it if she did. She was quiet and ate the molded bread I had saved for when our stomachs began to churn. Fear had it’s claws in me and I watched as the shadows of it washed over my child’s face.

My heart sank as I realized that she may never get to see that meadow in the woods. Fear had taken my kind fantasy and twisted into rotting flesh and the smell of fire seared skin.

A deep breath and I wake my small child and tell her that in the dark of night is the best time for us to move we are almost there. Almost away from all of it. We just need to get a few more miles south.

I hear the faint noise of gunfire and know that some are still watching. Hoping and praying that they will let us through. That we won’t be trapped or lost in the night. We walked for what felt like hours and my little one coughed from the smoke. I turned back wishing I had the strength to carry her. Wishing I could be that strong for both of us.

I slide my hand down the side of her cheek and she smiles but her eyes don’t reflect the same emotion. The dirt on her skin has been caked there for days and I can’t wait for when I can help her wash it clean.

The sun begins to peak over the horizon and we have only a few hundred feet to get past to find safety on the other side.

Once we are there she will get a hot shower and warm food. I can’t help but feel excitement run through my tired bones.

The gun fire was growing louder and steadier and I turned back one last time to signal to her we were almost there.

“Get down!”

I hear the screaming and drag my baby to the ground sure that the rocks have scraped her knees the way they scraped mine. But better to be scraped and alive.

She cried out from the pain and the loud gun shots that were scaring her.

“Shhh shhhh shhh!!” I begged her as we crawled closer and closer to the border comforting her as much as I could.

I heard the bullet whip passed my head barely missing my ear but the sound of impact rung so loud as I realized what they aimed for.

My princess. My angel. The only thing that mattered in this life to me. She was lying limp on the ground all life had left her small body.

Panic ran through me as I sat up and pulled her to me the sounds of gun shots flew past me as I screamed and shook her trying to wake her from her death.

A guttural scream rose from me as the bullets finally made impact into my small frame. My skin burned off and the light that rose from within me grew and grew until I felt as if a bomb exploded inside of me. Flesh falling to the ground and burning into ash as I grew and I realized with deep anger and hate that the last thing those men saw was a bright burning light and the last thing my angel saw was me.

I screamed and allowed my energy to wipe out the guns and melt the faces of the soldiers who claimed they were fighting a war for the greater good. A war that took too many young women and men. A war that took her from me.

My skin roared with hot white light.

And I relished in knowing that they would die at my fingertips.

The men who stole the world, moon, and stars from me would die and perish over and over again as death owed me a penance and I would collect on that reward.

“You wish to see them live their worst moments over and over again as they die by burning from the inside out?” Death asked as I stood and wrapped my long cloak around myself.

I took a deep breath in and looked Death in the eyes, “She was innocent. Let her haunt them forever and a day.”

“This will darken your soul and dim your light.” Death said as he rolled pieces of fire between his fingers.

“I am the Goddess of Destruction and Light, but I would have lived every day of her life beside her. I would have given every moment of this magic up to be with her. She was mine and I was hers. Nothing, nothing could darken my soul more than the loss of someone so pure. I will make her a star and visit her every night as I punish those who destroy for fun. Let them learn what it is like to be on the other side. Let them finally be the ones who are afraid.” ….

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With Love,

GV Rioz