People look at warzones

Like they have just seen Lucifer

Descend from the sky

Blood

Enemies

And brutality

Scattering amongst each footstep he takes

Leaving in a tornado of disaster

And destruction

 

When I look at warzones I see hope

Leaking through the cracks

In the walls of homes

And the cracks in the dry desert streets

Seeping into the eyes of the people

As they recover from the mess they are engulfed in

 

I see a place where people are suffering

Tears splashing on blood soaked floors

Where a woman mourns the death of a husband

And the death of a smile

 

Children starve

Hands held out in desperation

On the sides of streets that will now become their homes

As the rich walk by them unnoticing

Begging for a mother that has been stolen

And a father that no longer cares

 

Wandering helpless

These children collapse in fields they used to play in

As if the bones

That protrude out of their skin

Have turned to rubber

Unable to support their tiny frame

Any longer

 

I see a place that I can help

In my own small way  

I see a place that my camera

Could be my greatest weapon

Preaching sermons of change

With every subtle click

And flash upon the faces

Of children

And women

And men without homes

Without families

Without smiles

 

I hear the voices

Singing in a melody of helplessness

From halfway around this doomed rock

We call a planet

I hear calls for my help

Calls for food

For warmth

For vaccination

And I remember

That with one subtle click of my camera

One more photo published

There is one more person

Whose mind is now aware

Of the people who smile  

While they sit on the rubble

Of what used to be a home

A home who’s remnants

Now cover the ground

And pieces of fingers and toes scatter

The fields they used to work

 

These are the things that I see

The things I know I will see

As I dream of the people I will meet

And the stories I will hear

And as I plan my journey

To violent war torn countries

Where even the most miserable person

Still manages a smile as I walk past

Knowing I am there to help in any way I can