After Reading of Kenya

Come and see the blood in the streets...
-Pablo Neruda
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Come and see the children
with their bloated bellies,
with their grasping hands,
pleading eyes.
Do not romanticize
this, please do not.

I speak of this because
...through the streets ran
the blood of the children
ran simply, like children's blood.
I speak of this because
I would like
to keep the blood of the world
in its body;
I wish to retain the notes
of its song.
I cannot watch a father
hardly strong enough
to stand struggle
to dig his child’s grave.
I cannot watch
the mother's silent, resolute sorrow
as she sways in anguish.

These tears, this hunger,
the blood of the children...
this should not be.