Severer (A Poem)

I am the limbs of the children killed by the drones

gathered from the broken trees

a sad, frightening fruit

an alien among its own

hands that once clapped, faces that laughed

legs that have forgotten their dances

now too common in Yemen and Pakistan

the limbs are scattered across the land

Somalia, the Phillipines and Afghanistan

toes without feet

removed from their resting places

not rubble in the rubble

among the broken houses

missing children, missing spouses

scattered limbs in shattered homes

rocks and sticks and fingers

an eye that stares at you but cannot see

all is breathless at the site

pieces of children

a very quiet ear

all alone in the night

a finger that can do nothing

but be the missing finger of a tiny child

that Michelle will never meet as she sleeps beside the severer.