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.

I can live by your name
I can die by your name
For your life, I can do anything
What have you done?
Have I become your lover?
The rage of your love has become uncontrollable
Your magic has declared its victory on my heart and mind
Have I become your lover?
Your touch has become a perpetual habit
I roam, careless and hopeful, in the streets filled with the dream of our souls uniting
This is your love’s choice
This is god’s choice
Have I become your lover?
The veil dropped
Your eyes locked with mine
The sky danced with joy
The whole world around us blurred out
The one above us all pranced knowing it was all its choice and magic
We intertwined our fingers unknowingly of the future
Not a single word
Yet you spoke your heart out to me
I have become your lover.

BANG!
Did you hear that?
That was the sound of them falling from society’s high expectations.
You don’t know society?
The one that’s taking over nations.
And built on a foundation of regret, fame and obligations

Society tells you be yourself and accept your flaws
But even for that there are laws
A Makeup look is a must  
No one should see the real you
No matter if you get late to school
Having abs embossed in your body
Is more important than food for everybody

Working hard and going to gym
Expectations another synonym
Feeding your body with compliments  
Draining your body with supplements
Dreaming of a Barrel chest and muscled biceps
Long soft shiny hair
Shape compared to an hourglass or a pear
Bulging hip bones are key
With gap in thighs and bony knees

We die slowly from chemicals and social norms
As society squeezes us with its arms
Until we are buried under the ground
Because when society claimed that she was not beautiful or that he was not charmful
They agreed.
Society succeeds
As if a world of individuals can be judged by the same means
But all are different flavours like jelly beans

But the biggest problem with society is that it’s not them
It is us and will be for the time to come
There isn’t a single person who isn’t pulled apart by these expectations
After all we are just a generation brain-washed by society
Worrying about our own anxieties
Our brains are sick but that’s okay
Because what matters more
Are our grades and scores  

But its time we understand.
We all are more than our coloration or body types
Because you and I,
We are all alike.

It poured and poured,
The clouds were relieved,
trapped for so long,
Felt burden less as it splatted,
Creating a ripple
as it landed on the water
or landing softly,
On the green grass,
Making it moist,
Or crashing on to the compacted concrete,
Forming the pitter-patter sound,
Petrichor smell spreading everywhere,
It fell and fell,
Until the clouds realized,
That after the rain,
There was always sunshine,
And that was how her story began,
With a bit of sunshine,
And a bit of rain,
But she was the rainbow that was created,
In that beautiful combination.

I hate you,
For when the morning rises,
After a night full of your absence,
Your memories still hover in my mind,
I hate you,
For when I see you,
I seem to go completely numb,
My lips feel like they had been sealed together,
As no sound comes out,
And slowly and unknowingly,
A smile creeps on to my face,
I hate you,
For no matter how much I drink,
Your eyes are still what I see,
In the bottles of alcohol,
I smell your presence in someone else’s arms,
In the drug of forgive and forget,
I hate you,
For saying you will come back,
Only for you to never even look over your shoulder,
To see if I was fine,
Because you knew there was something wrong,
Yet still you left me,
But I hate myself more,
For never being capable of you,
I never deserved you,
I hate myself,
For having to say I hate you,
When I actually love you.