Day 288 - Ash That Remains

The sign read "אהבה"

But you couldn't understand it

So it meant nothing to you

When the bombs hit

Maybe a give-minute clip

Of the death toll rising once again

But that is all it meant to you

You couldn't read the sign

The sign read "l'espoir"

Which was as foreign to you

As a night without explosions

You had dreamed once of such a thing long ago

But since then you only hit the button

The one that ignites the flame somewhere

And sends the sparks of hatred into the sky

You couldn't read the sign

The sign read "शांति"

You only saw some bizarre drawing

You did not even recognize it to be lettering

Painted with meticulous patience

In the only colors they could find

Blood red for the many tragedies seen

But bright yellow for the sun still shining

You covered it in the gray of ash

You couldn't read the sign

The sign read "love"

And they torched it seeming demons

In the malicious point of the "v"

The sign read "hope"

The button they pushed was as red as yours

But with a greater diameter of destruction

The sign read "peace"

But even if you had spoken their tongue

That you could not have translated

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Note from the Poet

Stanza 1 - Hebrew for love - אהבה pronounced ahavah

Stanza 2 - French for hope - l'espoir -

Stanza 3 - Hindi for peace - शांति - pronounced shanti