The War Survivors. Poem by Tony Adah

The war was over
Fresh smell of bombs and canons
Reeked the whole land
Half walls stood riddled with bullets
Charred bodies of humans and animals
And houses lay smothering
In the wind of the ruins war had spawned.

Survivors, men and women wounded
And Children starved waited to hear
The sound of of the red cross chopper
Coming to deliver hand outs.
Their chests rippled
From the thumping of their hearts
On their shoulders
Clavicles protruded
Carving hollows on both sides of the shoulders.

There was no food, no water
Except rain which then was unfit to drink
The women and Children sat
Near mats, blankets, empty plastic water holders
And a few cats, hens and ducks tjay survived the war
The men frailly mending the thatch
Of their torn roofs
Yawning hungrily into the sky
The horror of war
Had gone but the hurdle of survival
Was next starring in their faces
The land devoid of anything to hold
Like debris in a river
For a drowning man.