The Day Before the Sirens

This morning the sun rose

without checking the news.

It spilled gold over rooftops,

touched the river into brightness,

pretended nothing was gathering.

...

Children walked to school

with backpacks heavy as questions.

A woman argued gently with a vendor

about the price of oranges.

Somewhere, a train arrived on time.

...

On another continent,

a finger hovered over a button

no one admits exists.

...

We speak of peace

as if it were a treaty already signed,

framed and hung

above the fireplace of history.

We say the world has learned.

We say never again

with the confidence of survivors

who believe memory is armor.

...

But the maps keep shifting at night.

Borders itch beneath their ink.

Leaders clear their throats

into microphones that magnify breath

into thunder.

...

My brother checks the headlines

before brushing his teeth.

My mother checks the sky

as if it might answer her back.

I check the locks twice,

though I do not know

what kind of danger

would bother with doors.

...

Water boils at one hundred degrees Celsius.

...

The fear is not loud.

It does not march in boots

or wave a flag.

It waits in the ordinary—

in the grocery line,

in the quiet between notifications,

in the way conversations stall

when certain countries are mentioned.

...

We stockpile words:

deterrence, retaliation, defense.

We use them like blankets

to cover the shape

of something sharp underneath.

...

At night I imagine the sky

splitting open without warning;

not in flame,

but in silence so complete

it erases birds mid-flight.

...

And yet, tomorrow,

the sun will try again.

It will rise stubbornly,

touch rooftops,

warm rivers,

light the faces of people

who still dare to plant trees

whose shade they may never sit in.

...

Somewhere, someone will choose

not to press down.

Somewhere, someone will loosen

their grip on history’s throat.

The sirens have not begun.

That is the mercy.

That is the suspense.

(Dedicated to Hiroshima, the North and South West Regions of my Country Cameroon, and to World Peace)