In the War Zone

Cook the dinner
Till it is day light.
Burn no fire in the dark.
The enemy planes will throw bombs on us
And burn our houses to ashes.

We sit huddled
Around the coal fire.
Burning in a small coal oven.
It is December and bitter cold already
The water is frozen in puddles.

Hush, hush.
Stop the baby to cry.
They will and shower us with bullets.
To silence her.
All windows are tight shut.
The curtains are drawn.
Silence of a graveyard,
Darkness of hell prevails
Everywhere outside.

We had not much for the super tonight.
Some crumbs and left overs since yesterday.
Old apples we fed our goats and donkeys,
We sliced and squeezed
Into the mouth of the baby
Crying in my mother’s lap.

It’s curfew from midnight till eight in the morning.
A stray dog in the street could even be shot.
Hush, hush.
What’s this now we hear – sirens low, then loud.
Is it them again? To throw some more dynamite?
Is it not enough? Not enough already?
They want to burn our donkeys
And goats in the fields!

We hold hands. My mother hugs my sister
And me while trying to stop the baby cry.
My dad is sitting in silence on the cot.
Praying or cursing.
What’s this moment in his head. I will never know.
My mother says, “If the bomb falls over our heads.
And we die. I want you to know, I love you all."

And then she cries. Tears over her cheeks.
My sister cries. I cry. Tears over our cheeks.
Hush, hush. Don’t make sounds when you cry.
They will hear through sealed windows outside.

We cannot even cry.