Beneath the veil

My fantasy fades
As the stories flow
From the innocent
lips of the wounded.

To normalize a horror story
that repeats itself,
some call it the news
but for so many refugees
it is just their reality.

A buddhist would say
without suffering,
we would not be this way -
human that is.

But many do not have to wear
the scars of their suffering
on their cheeks,
or bodies.
A wire lashing
or knife attack.

When the pregnant child
with a toddler by her side,
stared at me through hardened eyes
and told me a tale
of the traumatised;
A father who raped her
A husband who fled
A mother who shunned her
And left her for dead.

Listening to the wounds
of the stateless
first brought tears to my eyes
But it has since become,
normalized.

Light workers
in a dark room
in a dark world
like the monsoon
that ruthlessly falls
on bare trees

Such is nature,
such is life
and Ignorance is bliss.
But when the veil lifts
the light either blinds
or you pull down the blinds
or wear tinted lenses
to protect your eyes
from the fateful moment
that you realize,
the screen before
through which you saw
was made of real.lies.

Perspective shifted,
veil lifted.