Can We Forget? Poem by Andrew W.K. Yip

Did you see a blinding flash lighting up the somber sky,
Fiery swords stabbing savagely like lightning?
Did you see spires of death, dark deadly smoke billowing high,
Rising above raging, flaring flames, consuming a burning building?

Did you hear the sky roar and the screaming sound of wailing sirens,
And deafening sounds that shook and split the ground?
Did you hear the soft sobs of mothers and the loud cries of infants,
Horrifying yells and moans of men in hiding or just huddling around?

Did you cry in despair for the sorrow we have to bear?
Drones and rockets flying in, buildings crumbled and roads ablaze;
Bombs bursting and bodies flung down in a stark petrified stare.
As you watched and wailed in grief, running, falling, fleeing in a daze.

Can we forget the faces of those in shock, injured, maimed or not,
And those taken away, to somewhere, or nowhere?
Can we forget the many deaths and those who bravely fought,
In a senseless conflict of war for whatever reasons, plunging us in despair?