Survivors

he draped the casement with damask intricate silk woven into reversible pattern tapestry recovered from a treasure chest that held yesterday’s unshakeable dreams splintered frame where bullets stuck a mosaic of gun’s savage intrusion unhinged by belligerent forces he polished a lone brass nail then moved his stool into the opening cradled his head with ragged fabric cautiously looked forward and back outside and into a window of hope his wife returned from the fountain unharmed with a jug full of water washed the soot from his body shed tears of joy and relief ‘they cannot ever conquer our faith we’ll not give them our hatred’ ‘we were both poor before this but love heals wounds in peace’ 25th May 2020