Day 326

The children squat on the dusty ground.
They are letting insects crawl on their hands,
watching the way they move their legs, their heads.
One of them thinks, these insects are whole.
Another thinks, they have been eating, moving.
Who would wish to be an insect?  And yet,
a third child thinks, their lives, unlike ours, 
are not that different from how they were.
The children aren’t afraid
of being stung, bitten.  They know
there are wounds far worse
than those.  They put their hands
on the ground, let the insects discover
they’re free to go.  The children look
toward the remnants of houses,
the charred fields
where the insects are crawling.