Peace (War)

This is an experimental poem that uses parentheses to brings about stark contrast in a scene of before and after a war.

The idea is the poem can be read without the parentheses - read the parentheses and it goes from Peace to War.

Photo by Phil Hearing on Unsplash

The air smells like roses (not the ashes of our corpses)
And the streets are full of children (not the blood that flows)
Of laughter and of smiles (not the solemn silenced cries)
Two lovers (only one with flowers)
They stand in hand (one splintered)
In hand (one balmed)
And a lady calls out (in screaming agony)
For her child (one who has no more lives)
In the hustle and the bustle
Of the playground (made of mortar
made of Death)
A sweet spring wind blows (with metal and with smoke)
I am there (no more)
She calls for me (but I do not hear)
And I hide
(for forever she fears)
She sees my honest friend (in the new uniform trend)
And asks of him (with tears and with pains)
My friend (who never not lies)
Fingers point to where it lies
A box cradles what is there (in stillness and in silence)
Veiled softly by the blooms here (on the wooden board coffin)
My temporary house (my forever home)

Notes

The use of parentheses is inspired by E. E. Cummings' “i carry your heart with me(i carry it in]”. While he used it to bring about embrace I had the idea of having a double-voiced poem with a sharp contrast of horror and normalcy.