I would like to say I can hear
The cries and the scream, but I can’t
I would like to say I know
The pain and the suffering faced but I can’t
I want to say I understand
What this destruction and wasteland meant but I don’t
I want to say I comprehend
What the grave underneath my feet held, but I don’t

I know that the path I walk
Once carried bodies as they lay with sulken faces
I know that the sounds I hear
Once were filled with the cries of a pained people with eyes lost.
I hear only now the shallow emptiness that reverberates
Now empty wall acts like a knife twisting in my gut.