Flight

There came a sleepless night
that offered little consoling light
from a sad crescent moon.

Amid the heavy silence
after the gouging violence
of the red afternoon,

they dug one vast, shallow grave
for those they tried, but could not save
and laid them there to rest.

Then gathered what remained,
though it was tattered and cruelly stained,
battered and oppressed.

Into this sleepless, cold night,
they began their uncharted long flight
away from all they had known.

Toward no promises, no welcome trust,
leaving ruined land and sullen dust
where once they had called home.

They walked the punishing path,
numbed with grief and suppressed wrath,
souls and hearts bearing dead scars.

Pausing to pray in solemn silence
for their deliverance and guidance,
they cried for mercy, looking at the stars.