Silent Watcher Poem by Sheena Blackhall

We watched the news,
watched terrorists doing what terrorists do
The killings were indiscriminate

Dead on the screen, young couples,
Tourists, children, for a cause that wasn't theirs

The newsreel continued, the damage became explicit
Smashed cars crumpled like un-ironed clothes
Shards of glass like slashing pale confetti
Bodies under wraps, dark blood seeping
Smoking buses,
The scream of ambulances

Some stains run deeper than others
How lucky, how lucky we thought
We were out of the picture