A Year's "Party" Poem by Stephanie Apila

The woe persisted for several ages
Deaths never ceased and neither did treks,
Homesteads bowed in to abattoirs,
Human carcasses lay in the bushes with missing parts
Awful oxygen roamed about tasting like death.

Survival for the fittest was the order of the day
The feeble hearts abridged their lives
A war for years with a bit of halts
The nights were instead hot swamped in blood,
The rebel ambuscades ensured no displeasure.

For those years, slumber was for the children,
Parents only took naps in turns to keep alert
The elderly had breathed enough…
The days of heartfelt tears and agony were not few,
The days of survival became donkey's years.
Stephanie Apila