Imagine, we tell each other

Or I cannot imagine

Meaning it pains
the imagination to think

of night flecked with snow
and gunfire

Of terror that concentrates
in bodies packed together
in spaces made smaller
by their numbers

Of long hours endured
by women and children
grandmothers and grandfathers
waiting in the dark for transport
to safety

Only their lives on their backs
or clutched in their hands

Boys who've never held 
weapons in their hands before

Men who've kissed their families
goodbye

Yes I am talking about this war
but also about every war
ever waged

Smoke and ash hardly dissipated
in air before the next assault

What else did we do 
besides say we could not imagine