From: Zbadba@yabbs
To: all@yabbs
Subject: <no title>
Date: Mon Jun  6 21:59:48 1994
five men,
their breath ragged,
their vision blurred,
stagger unsteadily around a fire
chanting something
i can't remember.

a child,
his face half lit
in flickering orange,
plays with a doll,
its head of crudely carved ivory.

such sadness in the child's eyes,
i try to reach out, but the child
lies not only beyond reach,
but beyond comprehension.

a man
notices the child
and stops his slurred chanting.

the child remains fixated on the doll.
he will not hear the machete.

the doll falls, and is lost in the sand.