Aleppo (no chance on us!)

Our city reduced to trenches and dust particles

souls and and prayers swirled up with the wind

none could take a chance on us!

our hands groped beneath surface

as we breathed in the belly of the earth

rolling blasts, a transport to the afterlife

the world watched at a distance as we died

could they take a chance on us?

small screen and big ones too brought images into living room of the living

aye! ours was too rough even the Eagan Sea

could no stomach the burden

so many times it spewed the remnants ashore

but the loveless world pressed snooze when the alarm of terror at our lawn was raised

they could not take a chance on us!

we became a shadow of humanity

so undesirable a scourge no one would venture to speak out

so, we scurried through a death city

unseen and unheard,

miles and miles we marched away

seeking, pleading, weeping!

border passes cost more that a soul each way

yet bore no promises to free us from terror

we were not human—you see...

the world was no longer ours... we were shadows...

unseen, unheard!

some of us made it as far as Greece,

so close to living in open breeze,

and peaceful seas...

but the darkest cloud was not done with us

reapers came, clad in patrol garbs

riffles hanging down their waists

they'd come for us, it was obvious

they tumbled us down on the ground

impelling us with stones, tear gas and whatever was at their disposal

broken down, we crawled down the path

no longer clear or certain of anything

such inauspicious destinations—lo!

we shared tears bitterly gazing upon starless nights

upbraiding and sneers continued as we moved from place to place

mobs assembled around us howling like vicious beast

wielding bills with caricatures of our identity

our narrow escape came by chance

how we breathed or contained life for so long,

we could not tell

one thing was clear,

the world could not take chance on us!

so we followed the darkest path back to Aleppo!