by Sadaf Javed
War in real life wages
without uplifting music to silence the screams.
The buzzing of drones might only be drowned
by cries
Of adults and children alike.
But what masks the cacophony
when the cries are abruptly cut off?
Maybe the buzzing of the flies competes with that of the drones.
The bombs tear and char
while the snipers shoot the innocent.
The smoke does not rise in time with music
And the bullet does not cut through air in slow motion.
Everything moves too fast, too slow, at its normal pace,
All at once.
The script has already been prepared
The oppressed only have to take their place
As savages in need of enlightenment
Or if they try to hold on to their humanity
And resist
Then terrorists in need of extermination.
While the spineless oppressors sullied in blood of innocents,
Are applauded as backbones of civilization.
We are in a world where fictitious morals hold more water than documented reality
Where lies thinner than the smoke from bombs
Are more valuable than the blood running on the streets.
Sadaf Javed is currently doing a PhD in physical-organic chemistry while studying philosophy and politics at Radboud University. She is interested in politics, how ideologies develop and their role in shaping societies, especially the world-building narratives that determine public perspectives on colonialism, capitalism, and imperialism and their effects on people and the planet.
Raffia 