(no subject)

[tinpra]

Burning on my Birthday

it was still burning
on my birthday
more than two months later
there had been no rain
(no rain
no sleep)
and some said that was a blessing
it was the beginning of a drought
(a war)
but we didn't want to know it

it was still burning
on my birthday
men's shoes melting on their feet
stinking up downtown
smoking as i passed it on the way to school
and we looked
we all looked
even when there was nothing left to see

it was still burning
on my birthday
and we were burning inside
because there's something wrong when grown men
fight over the hands and feet of collegeaus, loved ones and friends
when others can't move from their TV's
watching for something, anything
new or old, good and bad
and when they shut themselves out
deaf to it all

it was still burning
on my birthday
two months and three days later
but it will take me three years to register
the smell of burning flesh