A Dream Called Erelah

I awake with the sweat of a distant dream.... Thinking of what I'd seen Remembering what was in my mind's eye Such sad, sad thoughts of a time gone by I remember the heat of the desert and the dangers of camouflage men of small remote villages.......and the people within I recall a child.......I can still see her smile Black was her hair, her hands they were oh so small I can still see her face.........I remember it all Erelah, yes that was her name and ever since I met her my life's not been the same She'd come to our station almost everyday coming for her hunger, always to play running round and round, hiding from us all I still can hear her laughter........ I remember it all Such a small girl, born into a ruthless world A world where men prey upon men, and life is simply discarded like sand to the wind Sunlight and shadows One illuminates while the other falls As days become weeks, distant voices call............ Messages of distress come over the wire speaking of death, fire of a small village, of evil men who rape, murder, and pillage Cloaked with the tools of Azreal, the tarmac erupts Awash in wind and sand, we're elevated into the air Nap-of-the-earth quickly, mountains, valleys pass by fast Distant souls burning, we ascend upon the village at last Pyre smoke engulfs the senses, as it swirls around and around Hovering high above, we descend swiftly to the chard ground Toils of men are revealed in the dawn's light The departed are scattered about as we scour for signs of life From one burnt structure to another We find nothing but hopelessness and despair Only the dead and the dying, Iblis has been here A familiar door, one I passed through many times before Reluctantly I peer in, and to my great sadness I'd see Little Erelah laying by her mother, still deep within a "dream" But from this "dream" she'll not awake, nor shall she ever play Both her innocence and life were taken Never to learn to read, never to learn to write Never to run and sing again, due to man's mindless strife I promised to protect the children ever since that day And always defend them against man's evil ways And never ever forget her That angel from above, or her simple message LOVE......... To me she was a moment of Spring, in a lifetime of endless Winter She is but a dream..........