Ibiang Ayei
@ayeiibiang080407
1 year ago

TRACKS THAT LEAD TO BOSNIA

In the dust of summer stood a child,
Her limp bloody hands losing grip on a drooping teddy
Her face cracked into a cry;
Shells and warheads driven through steel and concrete,
graffitied with the blood of many
An endless rain of bullets,;
Mushroom clouds,
a towering ghost in the midday sky
A shadow cast on the innocence of the bereaved,
a ghoul of hellish 1945

So on her cheeks were smeared the blushes of soot
Her dress,
unbelted from a careful bow
The once neatly packed bun rising up a rebel, it stood
- pointy ends like a stabbing knife,
she bled from all the scrapes and bruises,
Such a bad time to being alive
for a five year old who struggles to understand inhumanity
- she was clueless


(Interlude...)


From afar the trains could be heard huffing and puffing,
the heavy breathing of a steamy metal
A tirade from the hissing serpent, prisoners of war stacked like cargo
- a victor's trophy,
hanging like a golden medal
The dreaded tracks leading to Bosnia,
to the land
where ash and snow collides;
Where death doesn't have to bleed with the blood
of men,
but burn in the screams of those alive

The fork of separation,
where children are left orphaned by parents who happen to survive
A death march by once freedmen,
marching with terrors and tears in their eyes
To a distant land, no more to be seen
To a distant land, no more to be seen




***




Written by: Ibiang, Ayei Okoi
Monday, 25th July, 2022.
8:36pm
#Aï
#Fiction💯
#Nirclestories
#Poetry