“Picture of Innocence”
By Emily Waters
A child and a man stand side by side,
one holds a gun,
one wears a plaid school dress
and teeters on a pair of roller skates.
How could this be?
In a time of war,
a picture of innocence
and then a picture of
evil and death in human form
are represented in
a black and white configuration
of flesh and metal and paper.
Her eyes seem to whisper
“don’t shoot”
but his ears never hear.
His facial features do not soften
at the sight of her;
he grimaces, looking away
yet she stands by him
arms crossed, head bowed.
A picture of innocence,
a picture of death,
stand side by side-
one shoots,
and the other
is not so innocent anymore.
(c) 2013 | Emily Waters
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