When all must die within the day of doom.

Now man, at last, has breathed his final sigh

And grieves alone beneath the shades of gloom.

The guns had howled away their laughter mad

At fleeing women screaming in the dark.

The bloody knife had forced its edged glad

Into the hearts of men with faces stark.

The land now laid desolate, cold and bare

The greedy fires consumed the peopled huts.

The dusty ground, as all was dark and drear,

Was soaked and splattered over with blood from guts.

Now no one, no one could be seen nor heard

In gravest silence round and darkness furled.

- Kemar Cummings

-----------------

The sparrow on my window

I no longer hear the sparrow singing on my window ledge

On what sad wind did she ride away

And where does she now sing her song

In what garden does she rest

How sweet her sleep

How much happiness

Does her song still bring joy on some other window

While mine sits in silence

Thinking maybe next year

- R Oscar Lofters

----------

Requiem for the children

I got up this morning,

to grieve by candlelight;

to bless your memory and to intercede

for your love ones

You left swiftly and did not bid

farewell.

Events were too sudden,

and time too short.

Your place at the dinner table

waits in empty silence,

your bed space laments loneliness.

And your sing-song voices will only

echo in mem'ry now.

I got up this morning, to grieve

by candlelight.

- Rohan Facey