Cognitive Dissonance

a child sleeping
I am trying to balance the sight and smell
of my world, the day after a rain
that brings new grass and life
 
with photos of more rubble in Gaza
and mourners, in all colors, without time
to mourn their dead.
 
I am looking for poems
or words to soothe my soul,
to help me bear the darkness of the world.
 
I dread reading the news,
my heart, stretched each day anew–
by horrors and dark predictions.
 
Last night I heard an interview of a mother
whose only son was killed at a dance party
in the desert in Israel on Oct. 7th.
 
“May no other mother have to suffer
The loss of her son like this,” she said.
“No retaliation will ever bring him back.”
 
I cannot find the words
I seek. I shuffle through
my midnight house to my son’s dark bedroom
 
grateful for the sound of his light breathing,
In this safe room, I kiss his forehead and whisper,
“Good Night” and “I love you.”
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