my eyes
are on Syria
and the smoke
over Damascus
my mind
is on the trembling
men, women,
and children
in pajamas
surrounded
by an ashen city
I had flashbacks
to Iraq tonight
and the libraries
they burned
in Baghdad
and Libya
and the songs
of hope
from otherwise
hopeless people
war breaks hearts
buries dreams
and burns cultures
and it often starts
in the most
insidious
of ways