The Houses of the Innocent

The tiny heartbreaks of the every day

are given to us 

that we may understand

what happens to others 

though we have not lived through 

what they have to endure

I have never 

shielded someone with my body

I have never experienced war

or been indiscriminately targeted

for death 

but I know the taste of fear 

in my mouth and I know 

what horror does to your heart

when your blood drops 

in response to the sight 

of something that is unbearable 

I know what death looks like

when it approaches and 

how the body alters after

the spirit has departed

and the human response to 

seeing someone 

whose life has ended 

and I have felt the tide

of anger rising up 

to consume all other feelings 

when injustice is set before me

at the table of life 

and I don’t know how to 

fight against it

it is not surprising 

that I’m crying at my desk again

with helplessness

watching the destruction of 

shopping malls

as battle seethes over 

Mariupol and Kyiv 

laying waste to the houses

of the innocent.