Warning Signal

I wish I could retrace that

city of columns, ascending

like trees beckoned forth

by a nurturing sun

illuminating colors brighter

than memories retain

•

An oasis-like place, where

peanut plants blossom;

piglets cure heartaches;

warm guava abounds;

Families tend to garden growths

on hands and knees

•

But from unblotted skies,

a heavy stone fell

thrown by the mailman

of an opposing land,

It crushed my hand.

•

Was I in his stone’s way?

A miscalculation--

Nightmare, blood, bruise

Is he to blame?

•

I ran away, hid

behind remnants of

a ransacked home, leaking

plumes of rusted smoke

a warning signal