Ah Infidels of reason

Blood Smears by Talia Felix

Ah infidels of  reason
A Mother's Lament 

Ah infidels

one shock folded

into another

struggle spent

I placed one hand on

each still thin shoulder

and we shipped to shelter
shunning hate - together 

smiling

Ah infidels

In this land of lush

bursting possibility

you blossomed

both and thrived

my shining testament

to childhood resilience

and hope renewed

Ah infidels

of once silk soft skin

thirsty minds, malleable hearts
empathy and compassion
my smiling boys

how have you come to

harden as clay fired

Unrecognizable from the

Oven of indoctrinated hatred

Ah infidels

One shock folded

into another

you have been snatched from

my still-leaking

still-yearning breasts

I reach for you -

babes I bore

in remembrance of velvet feet

against my ribs

Ah Infidels

I reach

I reach

and

clutch

as in an

unending

searching dream

nothing 
but empty air

Ah infidels

Struck-senseless

sons of mine 

whose same hands

clutched but a moment ago 
for purchase

smack suckling  

now our sanctuaried streets
strewn 

with your catastrophic carnage

Ah infidels

My bright-eyed boys burnt to ash

now men-grown 

together in twisted 

brotherhood of incomprehension
you bomb...

targeted shrapnel -

exploding my

intertwined heart -

scattering my

shattered soul

infidels betraying all you have received
infidels desecrating all we held holy
in love, in family, in life

Ah infidels

you sons of

squander -

your hard won promise

purloined for hatred-

I look for

you in these

flickered images -

Stare at streets

carnage claimed

stained indelibly

as with my own blood

running

Ah infidels

my boys

vanished

my spirit vanquished
I stare mute - 

I do not scream 
for your ears now deafened

I do not claw my face in grief

before your blind eyes

One shock folded

onto another

you are irrevocably gone

burnt in the billowed tendrils

of your poison ignited tossed toxic smoke

Ah infidels

My infidels -
you are 

Sacrilege to the

the sunlight
fallen to darkness as
rotted fruit

Of my wounded womb

Bloodied handprints

smear my head - rip my heart 

Until 

Unable to stand

mortally maimed

I bleed 

soul spent 

decreed an infidel by you
who have shambled sacred 

mother laughing love

into endless dying

Ah infidels
I ran from such heartless damnation
protecting my children from the men
you have become 

Ah infidels of reason 
infidels of compassion
infidels of love 

I am a legless torso
a headless neck
hemorrhaging 
until I am but a husk
blowing in the smoke
of your incomprehensible 
destruction