Aleppo

'Aleppo' by Voirrey Faragher

Aleppo will never mean beauty again. Never

mean rivers and mosques, hanging gardens,

shaded courtyards, where old men rest, where women

laugh and children play under trees, where young girls

sing and writers dream of yesterday and tomorrow

and artists paint their dreams. Green turned to grey,

gold to dust, songs to howls which consume us all

and let us pray in this most unholy of hours,

for redemption, for forgiveness as we watch.