This August evening
I walk the dogs
in beams of sunset
soft orange light
Safety
Peace
Today I hugged my grandchildren
laughed with my daughter
But half a world away
two children will not laugh
with their parents tonight
nor smile at their brother
Because my country
dropped a two-thousand-pound bomb
on their home
as they slept in their beds
Two orphans left in rubble
Baba and Maman
Dadash
No more
A different orange light brought
murder and despair
twenty-five miles from any target
ordered by a bloodthirsty drunkard
in makeup and gelled hair
playing dress-up as a warrior
desperate to look grand
And people I know
who claim the name of Christ
will call that murdered family
collateral damage
rejoicing in their rapture fever
convinced He is coming
to sweep them away
But I think He will tell them
Get away from me, I never knew you
To the left
Into the fire
Tares to burn
in the harsh orange light
of their own judgment
