Sarajevo

The calendar says it spring, you know, but the nights are still quite long
the warm and sunny days belie the deep chill of the dawn
with all your friends and family gone

aren’t holocausts all black and white? their silent actors old?
there are none in this age of truth, and that’s what i’ve been told
and never will again unfold

never again

you’ve boarded up the windows and nailed home the door
the family sharing your food and water won’t come round here no more
they’re starved upon the kitchen floor

so all that you have left is wait, there’s nothing else to do
when you hear the knock upon your door, you’ll know your time is through
like your comrade anne in 1942

is it serb against the croat; the muslim and the jew
the cowboys and the indians, the gray against the blue
we’ve done all that we can do

never again

© David Stoddard 1998