Homage

In the blink of an eye can things change

Go from light to darkness

From life to death

One moment, limbs moving in gay abandon

Moving to the rhythm of music

In the next, limbs lie scattered on the blood-splattered floor

Torn apart by a blast that halted the song and dance

A momentary burst of sound that silenced hundreds of lives

And those that they left behind

Can only hear the deafening silence of loss

Can only feel the deadening weight of pain

Can only wish for what might have been

They hope the fragrance of flowers

will mask the stench of death

and the power of prayer will help heal their wounds

and that reason will prevail over madness

and innocents not sacrificed at the altar of terror

How long will this madness go on,

How many more lives will be scattered?

There's no end in sight

And all we can do is hope

Hope that tomorrow there will be peace.

NOTE: This was written after the Bali bombings in 2002.


© 2013 Uma Venkatraman ~ All Rights Reserved