Unexpected early morning,
It struck a town in Syria,
Rebel-held area turned into a toxic zone,
Shaking the entire government from its root.
85 people - 20 children-
                                          D   E   A   D
Some writhing,
Some C-h-o-k-i-n-g,
Some GASPING
             for  
                    air.

Sarin a deadly chemical gas pervaded the streets of Syria
Like grey clouds take over the blue sky.
Mouths inhaled the ethereal gas
As death grabbed a hold of their souls.
One boy was filmed suffocating on the ground,
His chest heaving like an ocean full of harsh waves,
His mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water.
Faces blue and yellow,
As their lungs cried for air.



The smell of death lingered in the streets
Dead children lined up in
R
O
W
S
on the floor,
Piled in heaps in the back of a vehicle,
Lying motionless in the mud,
Clothes ripped as rescuers tried to separate the chemical from their bodies
Imprisoned in the unpredictable terror of WAR!

Is this the result of a six year war?
Hours after the attack began,
Regime warplanes circled back over the area,
Purposefully dropping bombs on clinic treating survivors.
Death crushed the hope of many
Shutting the door to freedom
SMASH!

13 year old boy,
Drowned in the tsunami of grief,
As lonely as a dog without its master:
“Three of my family members died in front of my eyes.
I don’t even know it the rest are alive or not. ”
A horrendous scene for any human being,
Indeed an AFFRONT to humanity!
War stole the right for a 13 year old to feel loved, protected and precious.

Eyelids closed against the dim light of dawn,
As an airstrike hit their veranda,
Leaping from his bed with the hope of saving his family,
He hugged his nine month old twins tightly.
Handing the twins to his wife,
Yosuf went outside,
To see people staggering
And falling on to the ground like petals of a flower.
He came back to his house to see....
His brothers dead,
His nephew dead,
His niece dead,
His mother dead,
His wife dead,
His twins dead.
Yosuf was trapped in the cage of sorrow forever,
“My wife, Ahmed and Aya, my twins they were all martyred.
What was their fault?
My entire family is gone.”
Holding the dead bodies of the twins in each arm
Stroking their hair,
As their laughter echoed in his ears,
He choked back tears,
And mumbled goodbye.
A six year civil war stole the hope from hearts full of light,
Treaded over relationships full of love,
And strangled a life full of freedom.