My old dream

My father a farmer

My sister engineer

my brother a doctor

when I finish school

I dreamt to be a lawyer

Sadly, that was shattered

in 2020 November

my life in Tigray became about war

I stopped sleeping like before

ever since, I have been scared to shut my eyes

frightened for my family in case everyone dies

My dreams turned to nightmare, what followed was overwhelming

in two years, nearly one million Tigrayans went perishing

thousands massacred, gang raped, millions displaced,

their property and half their land annexed; robbed,

shelled by drones, left starving the list is never ending

hospitals, factories, churches and mosques schools, all destroyed

to commit this crime, half a million armies from Ethiopia, Eritrea,

foreign drones from 5 countries were deployed

The demolished, abandoned Villages and towns are sense eerie, what you feel is void

That’s why I cannot I dream I am scared to go to bed

One day I woke up some of my families and half of the village were dead

So, disturbed by all these, I don’t sleep any more

I am scared of nightmares, I don’t dream like before

The soldiers search door to door

killing anything that moves, humans, cattle’s looting and

burning grains from the store

My mum was attacked in the factory, have  been looking for my sister

we don’t know where she is we pray we will find her

My brother the doctor, one year since he had his salary

The Hospitals have no medicine for the sick,

or equipment to operate war injury

he didn’t abandon his people, although always uptight

to make matters worse, one day, my father’s harvest was set alight

no single crop left shocked my father suddenly died that night

a reason I don’t dream any more like I used to do before

this is a preview of living, inside the Tigray’s tragic war

No food no transport no telephone no money no fuel

No hospital no factory no electricity no school

All used as silent weapons and genocidal tool

So every time I shut my eyes this nightmare is what I keep

I don’t dream anymore I am scared to sleep

sometimes I imagine war being abolished

any state that start it, held accountable and punished

I want children from war zones to sleep without fear anymore

Until that time happens, I keep my old dream from before

To be a lawyer, of an International Court, to prosecute those started Tigray’s war

I want to dream justice for children in Syria, Yemen, Tigray and Ukraine

so that they don’t suffer more if there will be no war again

despite their trauma will never leave their brain

I want to dream something for Christmas and for my friend’s Eid

To see the war replaced by peace, laughter and with plenty to feed

I yearn for a world that doesn’t allow war

That would be my new dream added to the old one from before.

Tigray shall prevail!!

Poet Jerusalem