A STRANGERS SMILE, Poetry by Julie Ismert

Genre: Political, Society, Life

A STRANGERS SMILE
by Julie Ismert

A village unrecognizable in its’ stillness
Shadows where buildings once stood
A child’s haunted eyes peer out of a crate made window
Sitting motionless, searching with melancholy anticipation
Possibilities of peace reduced to rubble
A boy, drifting on a dust filled road, tumbles to his knees
Foraging to find sustenance for his starving body
Both children have lost many and endured terrors
Left alone, frightened, forgotten casualties of war
Grieving, remembering faces of loved ones, now gone
Questioning whether they might be next
Stress and mental wounds permeate their existence
Until an intuition, a sense of hope reveals itself
As one child peers out, the other one looks up
Soldiers in convoys appear within the dust
A quiet whisper, urging the children to be quick
A rough hand grasping theirs, pulling them to safety
Confirming someone cares and love still…