No Man's Land... Poem by Mark Heathcote

Between them, separating us, this white piece of paper
all hopes of a future, now sadly annulled.
Their marriage over divorce settlement-finalised
one parent's hand grasped instead of another.
This is how our innocents get taken and destroyed
lying on our beds as if it were an air-raid bomb shelter
like military veterans, clutching-damp wet teary pillows.
But we're only conscripted kids amidst the ongoing war
Crying for what is fundamentally a God-given right.
The rights of two parents that-don't-want to kill each other
allied sister and brother against each other entrenched.
Between them, separating us, the long-awaited ruling,
nothing's-been-won, but all was irreparably lost.
And it's us weeping kids who paid that significant, high cost.