Orange light

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