Footprints Of A War
2021
Guernica by Pablo Picasso, 1937
In response to Guernica by Pablo Picasso, 1937
1.
A horse used to lie
Under a tree with leaves that sang with the wind.
Under the untainted sky, a basket of cherry picked stars.
The moon,
She stroked his white mane with lavender blue.
Now, in his desolate night:
A surrounding landscape of
Grass as blazing blades of fire, and
The crumbling skeletons of houses.
His heavy head pushes his ear into the dirt.
He hears the drumming of Earth’s heartbeat,
And feels the pain of tears battering down from dense storm clouds.
His stomach opens in lacerations that spit out
Ruby red blood, war stolen.
2.
A mother wants back her child
Who held her world in his little palms.
Airplanes should’ve been gentle
Spoons holding food, swooping towards his grinning mouth.
Not the toys of aviating death,
Spilling over with eggs that hatch in explosions.
The shrapnel that sought her child,
Like a serpent thirsty for blood,
Rests on stained carpet ground.
Resin cured tears crust her face.
Her agony, a viscously slow dance that will not end.
If only a new morning could settle through the blood tainted sky.
3.
A dove lies on a bed of its own feathers,
Frozen in the face of death.
A vulture feasts on its exposed chest:
Peace vanquished to a simple treat.