She is One Hundred and Five

A war correspondent
comes to her tent,
teeming with refugees,
and asks her for a comment.
She’s one-hundred-and-five
and says she wants to die.
Not because she is too old,
that’s not the reason why.
Her wish is not a whim
but a sign of desperation.
She has witnessed the futile
destruction of her nation,
the bombing, the shooting
from both warring sides,
she’s seen the consequence
of martyrs’ suicides
and now she is a frightened,
defenceless spectator
of the fight between the rebels
and an unyielding dictator.
On the streets of the capital
the tanks ominously rumble,
the mortar’s shells explode
and the edifices crumble.
While hundreds of thousands
have mercilessly been slain
all attempts at diplomacy
have, alas, been in vain.
The outcome is uncertain
and the outlook is bleak
but their one and only hope
is to find the peace they seek.

© Luigi Pagano 2013