Sometimes I get this way.

Hiroshima.
Dresden.
World Trade Center Towers.
Everything melting.

Child soldiers. Stolen from their families.
Forced to murder their parents so they have nothing to return to.

I’ve never understood why people watch horror films.
Watch the news. Read the papers. The horror of real life is enough.

I listened to the Blue Angels practicing over downtown.
I heard the sounds of war.

The phone rang and rang and rang, and I could not pick up.
Too much that could not be spoken. The silence was more true.
Let’s not fill what little time we have left with lies.

Yes. No.

Little girls playing princess. Am I pretty? Yes - you are.
Little boys sneak down stairs, carrying guns.
Pow! Pow! Pow! Ha! Ha! You’re dead.

Breathe in… Breathe out…

Your right shoulder, my left shoulder.
We’ll lie side by side, bare skin touching.
Our shoulders will heal. Or they won’t.
Either way, we’ll be together.

Don’t go away.