The Sound of Violence

By Azra Hoosen

Do you know the sound of violence?

Children’s shrieking screams of resistance,

calm replaced with countless helpless cries,

air force thundering through the skies,

missiles mercilessly devouring homes,

bullets piercing through flesh and bones,

blood sizzling in the scorching sun,

the final footsteps of a dead man’s run.

The cracking and crashing of solid concrete,

the reverberation of brutal defeat,

vicious growling from starvation,

the earth trembling upon detonation,

bones broken, bodies beaten,

fire feeding on the fallen,

flames guzzling the earth’s resources,

the elated march of military forces,

their satisfied sighs of relief,

as every bit of humanity and innocence drowns in grief.

The silent warnings preceding air strikes, causing destruction, irreparable damage,

the last breath of hope exhaled under crushing rubble and wreckage,

Mothers and fathers howling horrified, in harrowing pain,

as shovels dig deeper into God’s earth, to lay their countless little ones, who died in vain.

Deafening! The world’s silence,

Amping up the volume of poisoning propaganda,

Power hungry puppeteers laying waste to their ‘power’,

turning deaf ears to the real sound of violence.