She said:
When the hospital was mortared,
the air was filled with
siren sound -
And she just couldn’t enter
that “safe” place with
the sand bags all around -
a place that was wet, and dark and cold
and smelled a little bit like mold -
There was a “two-step”
in the bunker - and
she said she’d rather take a chance
with a simple little mortar round
than do the deadly two-step dance.
The guys thought that was funny;
they said they’d killed the snake -
but entering the bunker
was a chance she wouldn’t take.
So for her, the bunker
wasn’t safer
and she stayed outside, alone -
and she listened to the mortar rounds
and prayed she’d make it home.

©Christina Sharik
January 3, 2001