Shattered Innocence

Previously held truths invalidated

in a series of fiery blasts,

our fragile sense of invulnerability gone,

we watched, staggered,

as agonizing events occurred before our eyes.

We watch them over and over,

repeated in a loop of horror.

Brave men and women

phoned  their loved one to say goodbye,

knowing that life was near its end -

wanting, no, needing, to state their love.

Some, leaping to a terrifying,

crushing certainty,

escaped the flames,

only to fall at their colleague's feet.

Acrid  smoke billows;

scraps of paper,

bits of people's lives

litter the streets.

Rubble, resembling ancient,

burning ruins,

marks the space

where the twofold monolith stood;

a bare and  empty place

that exposes our souls,

and reflects our too-full hearts.

© Ellie Maziekien

91201


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