Where the doves come to cry

By Oceanika Pandey

They said, “We fight to end the fight,” 
To make the dawn outshine the night, 
They sent the ones with steady hands, 
To bleed upon foreign lands; 

But have you forgotten that they are too 
the children of mothers who never knew 
that peace is but a mere facade, 
Built on graves and betrayed hearts; 

The flags are changed, the maps are redrawn, 
But mothers still wake before the dawn/ 
To weep for sons they’ll never see, 
Tell me now, do you see any peace in this "victory"? 

They build their treaties on millions of graves, 
Dressing up the silence left by death in waves, 
They call it order, / call it law, 
"Peace born out of war" / Do you really not see the flaw? 

The soil weeps ink where poets bled, 
And laurels crown the speechless, the dead, 
Where once the olive branches grew, 
Now bayonets pierce the morning dew; 

Tell me, can these honours undo what's done? 
Can it give solace to every martyr's mother and son? 

You now walk where Mars laid waste, 
Through orchards that lay turned to iron taste, 
Where even Persephone won’t dare tread, 
And Orpheus sings to rows of dead. 

The smoke still sings in burning scripts, 
Of Icarus' wings that broke on sunlit lips, 
Boys with feathers strapped in pride, 
Rose to fall where angels cried- 

Not pride, but grief, brought down their flight, 
Too little sun, now sleeping in an endless night. 

I now see a place where even doves come to cry, 
Their wings too tired to question why, 
No song is sung, no prayer is heard, 
The skies once bright now wear a shroud, 
And silence screams where dreams once rejoiced out loud.

Oceanika is currently a high school student, who writes poetry because of the love forms of expression, and writing just happens to be the one chosen. The following is a comment from the poet:

This particular poem is inspired by the rising wave of war-like tensions around the world and reflects my strong opposition to violence. Please take it as a response born from frustration, and a longing for peace