Starless Midnight

Maya, Syrian child refugee.
More than half of forcibly displaced persons are children
 15 years old and under. — unhcr.org

Bound to a starless midnight

They wish for just one night

If only to breathe a desperate sigh,

Searching for hope in a forlorn sky

A darker cloud as sign

That things could have been worse,

A cold-fate-endorsed

Scenario to commensurate their loss.

Acquainted with sorrow

Their streams of tears convey tomorrow,

Born in exile

Like Moses riding the Nile

A habitat for crocodiles,

Or forcibly displaced

But anywhichways 

They're helpless preys.

Tragedies don't acknowledge kids

And kids ain't built

To ride the storms of conflicts.

They are victims,

Weak and vulnerable like sucklings

In the vortex of an ill wind,

Who've been thrown headlong

Into a dehumanizing war

Of which nobody asked their opinion,

Nor received their permission.

What does the future hold

If tomorrow is stripped to the bone?

Akpan