I was chained to oars on a boat
who cares that the sea salt tickled my nose
I could not inhale the fresh brisk air
filth filled my nostrils
and leather threatened to lick my shoulders
“pull.. pull.. pull.. pull..”
I was urged to keep a constant pace
this was the life I was regulated to
I was once a simple farmer
who loved my wife and my children
I couldn’t wipe tears on my grainy face
had they been burned alive?
had they miraculously escaped the terror?
I opened my eyes from a dream
fiction always comes alive in sleep
today’s news is pushed beneath my door
I smell burnt flesh
screams pervade my reality
hundreds of bare feet pound in futile retreat
senseless are these radicals
who teach young boys to wield swords
my fingers sift through the ashes of a church
looking for any remnant of life
the age old story on society overtaken by another
they called it “the spoils of war”
I call it senseless brutality
against peaceful innocent victims
but then we live in an advanced age
“enlightenment” some call it
where civilization slides backwards
they inhale unjustified cruelty
the reclamation of barbarism
the true captives of a hellish purpose
Today’s prompt at Poets United is Captivity.