War At My Door Poem by Dr. Ahmed Gumaa Siddiek

Helpless because of the war

This is an urgent telegram to General Burhan and General Daglo to stop the war and step down.

I did never think of war
to knock at my door
I am helpless because of war
And because of war
I can't leave my door

I cannot reach my money
To draw one single penny
As the bank is either closed
Or robbed by the mobs
Or run short of any…

So, I cannot buy milk for the children
Or medicine for myself
Or food for my family
And cannot fetch wood
To cook the food
Because of war

I cannot sleep at night
Due to the heavy fight
Close to my house
One on the left,
The other one is on the right

Because of war
I cannot see my wife
I cannot draw so near
To say some words in her ear
to soothe her fear
Because of war

I cannot speak to my grandchildren
And cannot talk with the family
As the family all strives
To secure their lives
Under the staircase
Or in the basement room
For the fear of shells
That come like hell

And due to the fear of guns
There is no way to run
As they send their fire
To hit everyone, everywhere,
Hitting men, in their shops
Women, in their kitchens busy with their jobs
Children, in their cradles
Boys, in the playground full with joys
And girls, with their toys
Human or animals
Dogs sometimes
All... fear the war
And fear the mines
That may explode at any time
To kill everything that can walk,
Creep or that can talk

Because of war
I could not talk to my mother, or my father
To my sister or my brother
And I could not speak to my neighbour
At the next door
Because of the war

Because of war
I can not walk freely in the street
For the fear of the (SPAF) Antonov*
That shell the city with bombs
Or the fear of the (RSF) with Kalashnikov
They took my neighbor's house and his car
Kept his family as human shield
And destroyed his field

Because of war
The dead bodies in the streets of my town
Have nobody to bury them down
So, they became festivals for dogs,
And meals for worms in the ground

And because of war
The green trees- shyly- have their heads come down
Silently, weep the fate of the people and the fate of the town
The fate of the Sudan, that - shamefully - runs the worst war,
In the modern human history! in the twenty-first century! !
So, my LORD, may YOU have mercy,
On my people and my country


Notes: The emergency room south of the belt in Khartoum reported that 18 civilians were killed and others were wounded, as a result of heavy artillery shells falling on the neighborhoods of Al-Azhari and Salama, immediately after the end of the one-day truce.
*SPAF: Sudanese People' Armed Forces
*RSF: Rapid Support Forces (militia)