Bloom

 Two grandmothers sit frozen in a room

Higher than an ancient tree

The angry missile rubbled the building’s wall 

And tore the handmade tablecloth

Still the flowers bloom

Bodies tangled in mass graves

Who could remember where 

Their loved ones lay dead

And so all the ground turned sacred

Still the flowers bloom

The baker, the truck driver

The adolescent son and daughter

All are soldiers now

Minds soaked in the call to war

Still the flowers bloom

Cities made unlivable

Dank basements become homes

Waiting to become tombs

Where hope and life might die

Still the flowers bloom

Citizens change into refugees

Frightened children, elders without hope

And fighters who never dreamed 

Of the brutality that would come

Still the flowers bloom

We watch this awful story unfold

We cry, converse, open our wallets

And go about the daily tasks and pleasures

They struggle to remember

Still the flowers bloom

Is this a surprise on the human planet

The disregard for flesh and breath

Dictated by one deranged mind

That didn’t account for such courage

Still the flowers bloom