Echoes of Silence

In fields once green, now scorched and bare,
Where laughter rang through summer air,
The echoes of silence now prevail,
A haunting, hollow, voiceless wail.

Broken bodies, shattered dreams,
Lie still beneath war’s bitter streams,
No mother’s lullaby, no lover’s song,
Just silence where they don’t belong.

The guns have stilled, the bombs have ceased,
But peace feels hollow, scarcely pleased,
For in the quiet, memories rise,
Of those who fell ‘neath leaden skies.

Children’s voices, once so clear,
Now only whisper in the ear,
Of those who live to count the cost,
Of innocence forever lost.

The flags that flew with prideful might,
Now hang in tatters, drained of light,
Their colors faded, purpose gone,
In silence of a blood-red dawn.

In halls of power, men still speak,
Of victory, honor, goals to seek,
But in their words, the silence screams,
Of lives cut short, of broken dreams.

The monuments of stone stand tall,
With names engraved upon the wall,
But can these markers ever show,
The depth of silence down below?

So listen close to silence’s song,
It tells of peace, of righting wrong,
For in its quiet, wisdom lies,
To silence guns and war’s cruel cries.

Let echoes of the silence teach,
What violence could never reach,
That life is precious, short, and sweet,
Too dear for war’s cold, grasping feet.

In silence, let us find the way,
To brighter dawns and peaceful days,
Where laughter rings through summer air,
And fields grow green, both rich and fair.