How To Kill A Child

Look. You can see one over there
standing in the rubble - shoeless, voiceless,
tainted at birth.

Is it a boy ? Or a girl ? It does not matter.
Just raise your gun and aim, preferably at the head,
then slowly squeeze the trigger
and fire.

See ? Not difficult at all. The child falls
in an instant. It was a clean kill.
Well done. Congratulate yourself for
being humane...

Again, near that bombed-out building.
Several emerge, holding white rags, scampering
over smouldering bricks.
They scream. They cry.
They are filthy - not like ours.

Now swing the turret of your tank,
measure the range, depress the large red button
and the missile will be released.
Remember to protect your ears!
There will be a rush of air and gas,
a boom - sonic almost - and now they are gone.
Easy if you know how.

The children you kill
will be retrieved, wrapped in cloth,
and deposited without ceremony
into the dry red earth.

While this happens I suggest
you take a moment for yourself,
sit beside your tank, eat and drink,
give thanks to your god,
because killing children can be hard work
and there are many, many left.

They stand in the rubble
shoeless, voiceless, tainted at birth
staring, unfeeling
(not like ours).

They are dead inside, they scream, they cry.
And let me warn you: they are eager
to grow old and remember.