Day 399

Hard to imagine these children
singing.  Hard to imagine 
their voices strong, a choir
of children’s voices singing
in a large tent with their teacher
conducting.  Listen!  There is joy
in their singing, the joy
of forty, fifty children
singing together on little chairs
in a tent, watching their teacher.
Can they forget for a moment
the dust, the bombings?  Their
missing friends?  Even their hunger?
Daylight shines, opaque,
through the canvas panels.  Late
autumn, the afternoon
bronze-golden.  No one, this
minute, in this tent, seems
in danger of dying.