Jihadi
Orange sand
Raw sewage
Diesel fumes and burning flesh
Screams and the black blood boiling
This is Sadr City
It might still be mourning
Time for prayer
Imams calling
Even now
We hope for the night
In darkness, we lose our reasons not to hide
Between the sirens and the screaming
We still dream
Our dreams
Involve silence
Not the detonations
Ripping closer and closer
We dream of thick re-enforced cement
Faltering drones
IEDs that fail
Strong hands on friendly weapons
And somewhere a door that opens on home
Warm food, open arms and home.