How Do You Explain? 

By Sr. Irene Syomiti, MMM 

How do you explain peace to a child born in war 

How can I talk of safety’s shore when bombs shatter the mornings cries? 

Women are weeping and children’s screams echo more? 

 

How do you talk about trust when hatred is all she knows  

How do you talk about RIGHTS  when WRONGS abound  

How do you describe tomorrow when today is such a mess  

 

How do you describe a home to a child living in war  

When life in temporary camps is so routine and real  

In tents of sorrow, they lay their heads 

Numbers, not names, where their stories are dead 

 

How do you describe trust  

When trusting no one is a matter of must  

What do you say about friendship  

when the best friend  is the weapon they carry 

 

What do you tell her about hope 

When all her life feels like sliding down a slope  

How do you tell her she is a child, beautiful   

when her beauty and age have brought her so much pain  

 

She is still a child who deserves lullabies not sirens 

Should be learning to write her names not learning to survive  

We will not let their stories end in silence  

We will speak their names in prayers 

We will build the peace we pray for  

Because a child born in war still deserves a world born in love.