And dies in the night

When the strangers came the local birds were singing
but, one day they all disappeared-
the sky he knew over his town was suddenly changed
when the fighter plans were dropping bombs
he saw the man carrying his brother’s corpse
the war lasted for so long
the seasons came and went and he went walking in hunger
he was the man behind the fence all in chain rubbing his face on the ground
the rain was the only pleasure he could think of to postpone his grief
he saw all the birds flaying away and then falling down
people and animals were burning and falling down with the rain
no body waited for anybody the rain had something strange in it
everything was falling and birds too; he did not exist anymore
and god could not do anything .

He could not see children around anymore and leaves did not look beautiful any more
the spring was not happy at all and the land was full of tears
he could not say anything,
he did not know where the others were
they did not even have time to say goodbye when they disappeared
his city collapsed and he did not know were to go so he went on all-alone.

Longing became his home, which he built inside himself,
his dreams were his best friends
and the silence was his most intimate companion.

When the cities were burning and people were burning too
the rain he knew was not giving life to the fish in the river anymore
looking at the sad sky he saw that birds were falling down with the rain
he remembered the pages of books all burnet by the bombes
his new life became overcrowded by nightmares all linked with the pain
he began to tell his stories to the pavements where he slept.

The memories like needles pierced into his mind, tormented-
he saw his home all destroyed and the walls with big holes in them
some one was just lying near by calling for help
the bullets were coming and the birds were dying too
the man died and he could not do anything
he too died there – in his crippled body only his spirit survived.
he saw bodies some full of blood and many just laying down,
the strangers have come and gone in his life and he has left with the burning images of war on his mind,
people without heads lying down near the road
And the trees all burning without birds chirping on their brunches no more.

When his city collapsed he collapsed too
he still hears the tick tick tick
of the clock on the wall of his room
he became an orphan after losing his town
in the emptiness of his life he realized that
after losing his town,
he knew nobody and nobody knew him anymore.

He dreamt of far way countries whilst sleeping on their maps
he has always been living in the most painful silence in his life.

He is everywhere this man
and he is homeless this man
and he is tired this man
and the only thing he can do is that - Waiting
Confused and in pain.

When night arrives- debris of war come too
he sits, opens his wide eyes and his mouth,
drinks his tears then
whispers to himself, “please no war no more.”
and after this he dies in the night.

(2000) M. Aidani