Dove of peace

Dove of peace, where have you flown?
In a world full of war, leaving us alone..
Women brutalised and starving with children to feed,
The noise of battle and conflict inspired by greed.
The circling of planes dropping bombs on buildings
Weary and worried, having lost their home..
People in pain, struggling and suffering to be freed.
Abandoned and lonely, cheered only by courage.
Their possessions abandoned, carrying their life luggage...
Lost in the cities, singled out by snipers,
chased by camels in the desert and rifles.
Running from captors, darting from dictators
Oppressors, enslavers and mutilators..
Fearing the law, which is broken and bent,
living like nomads, their life in a tent.
Painful and petrified, broken spades are their weapons.
Armed to the teeth with old china and saucepans.
Filthy and wretched with life on the run,
blistered and burnt from exposure to sun
High on adrenaline, low on morale,
challenged and outwitted, embittered, outrun..
Hopelessly fighting against terrible odds
lost in the country, being chased by dogs..

Craning their necks they look to the sky..
to see the dove of peace flying cautiously by
Wearing a bullet proof jacket in case of being caught
by flying bullets, ricocheting up into the sky.
Cheering fantastically at such a welcome sight,
waving their broomsticks, delerious with delight..
The dove, having other things on her mind darts
in other directions, fearful of being shot-
the gory,melancholy machinery of war
being too dangerous for a delicate
bird whose white wings may be tarnished...
She promised to return one day, then vanished.