I don’t speak your language
but can read your hand
when you place it on your heart
I hear the muffled screams
of your wounded and starving
You try to say my name
I’ll pretend it’s OK
and flash a weak smile
but my eyes will bear
distrust and hatred
we shake hands and sit
under silent moonlight
say nothing gaze up at
those million pricks of hope
that dance in the darkness
you say if a single star fell
on all the sins behind this war
burned them all away
do you think there’s a chance
we could start over?
I say yes but only if we spend
days tending to cuts made
to each other’s souls and
nights like this to truly
forgive and let go