if not human

They came to kill the mothers

They came to kill the mothers and left with empty names.

You,

You, if no one else,

You, if no one else, will know the moment

life is wheeled out,

life is wheeled out, flushed skin,

life is wheeled out, flushed skin, lambs of the softest kind

and they know war

and they know war like a mother's gaze.

For if they must,

For if they must, if they must die,

let it be in the name of courage

let it be in the name of courage in hospital whites,

let it be in the name of courage in hospital whites, snug to the touch

and our mouths would crawl shut

for who had lost the human in them

for who had lost the human in them to find another in their grip.

Place them near the snap of jaws,

Place them near the snap of jaws, taunt.

Wolfish,

Wolfish, they may be with

Wolfish, they may be with the rocking moon in their throat,

though we are not alike.

Now we wonder

Now we wonder what to do with our hands

Now we wonder what to do with our hands if we cannot make grief out of them.

(i.n.)

This is a bit of a heavy poem to both write and read, but at the heart of all my poems, they're about people. About life and experiences and society and all that is around us because some things can't go unsaid, and if one poem can touch someone, then who am I to stop writing?

Some of you might have heard of the attack in an maternity ward in Afghanistan, in Kabul's Dasht-e-Barchi hospital. If you haven't heard of it by now, I urge you to go and search up on it. Though it has been covered in the media, it may be overshadowed by the coronavirus and other news.

I can't even believe what lack of humanity these attackers must have had, and I find myself contemplating why humanity has come to this point. But it inspired my poem today because I'm still in shock, let's say.

To not go into too much detail, I'll leave you with a quote from Anne Frank that I think sums up the whole situation. My heart goes out to the victims, their families, all those who suffered once, and to those suffering now. <3

"I see the world being slowly transformed into a wilderness; I hear the approaching thunder that, one day, will destroy us too. I feel the suffering of millions.

And yet, when I look up at the sky, I somehow feel that everything will change for the better, that this cruelty too shall end, that peace and tranquility will return once more." -Anne Frank