Day 502/Ceasefire Day 32

The market is filled with people again.
Potatoes, zucchini, lettuce.  Just looking at them
fills you with happiness!  The skin of the apples
so shiny, the broccoli a deep blue-green.
Is it possible for a moment to forget
the long months of siege?  For a moment, yes.
You walk past the stands, the din of conversation
blurring your thoughts.  You say hello 
to this one, that.  You didn’t know anymore
who was alive, who still had their arms
and legs, who would return.  Your bag
fills with what you will bring
to your children, what you will cook
for them later — not yet in a kitchen, but
on a fire you’ll build
in front of your tent.  Flame the color
of the sun that will set 
unobscured by warplanes.  Your childrens’ faces
rapt, watching as heat softens the grains,
the vegetables.  Such contentment you feel at last 
to be able to feed them.