Life is about taking breaths But the most important times Are when it is taken away And all that haunts a displaced child Is when their breath was lost then found again From the moment a 3 minute warning is given Where does one evacuate to When already in a shelter As bombs blast And shots echoe in the near distance When the ground shakes in pain There is no time to think No time to act as shrapnel came flying To pierce their skin And homes collapsed Walls caved in Only to harden their resolve All out of tears They no longer fall When they get used to the pain They recite the martyred like a grocery list Mum Dad Brothers Sisters Aunties Cousins Uncles Friends But the souls of lost ones are trapped in little hearts Caged in past dreams Where Fatima still comes to play with Aisha in the courtyard Even with her head twisted off by the guards Tariq and Abdul play marbles with charred fingers Maha clings onto yesterdays that can never be the same Where her father's farm was ripe And days were spent out in the field A child sees a child does So they accept they were born to die And pick up a stone to fight At least they must try to protect themselves Even animals reserve that right It's instinct Basic defensive nature and survival needs Yet the world condemns them Serpents that bare snakes They are terrorists in the making As curses cry out from anger and hatred A crime to be born in the middle east The gates and borders of surrounding countries Closed for their emergency Where the only place to go is through the doors of heaven Which are wide open And in this case is it cruel of me to say Maybe it is a better option Than to live and die a thousand times over Mentally disturbed Overwhelmed with distrust All that will be left are robots That have nothing to lose Time that should be spent in school Is a time that will never come back And everyday is a chance lost Scars that will never be overcome Eyes that have seen too much These angels don't belong here