In Place of Needless Loss

This water cold caught still as stone,
This wash of white,
This dark of sea,
This overwhelming sadness,
Blown by brutal war,
Where hope dashed hard upon the cruelty of ragged rock,
As child fights fast to reach the air above,
As mother yields,
As infant drowns,
As father dies in place of needless loss,
In memory let these words ignite,
With thought and action keep these blameless souls in close unbroken sight.

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This poem and artwork were created after infants, children, mothers, fathers, sons and daughters lost their lives close to the island of Lesbos on the Aegean Sea in their desperate efforts to escape a war-zone.