© Lourdes Monteiro 
© Dirk Engelage

Some days 
I cannot look beyond 
the anger 
and the fear 
the desperation 
that is eating out 
my heart

and I feel caged 
dismembered almost 
and de-humanized

reduced to be spectator 
to a play I did not choose 
and that I do not 
wish to see

I do not wish to be 
a part of this reality 
and yet 
I do not know 
how to escape 
or how to change 
to end this 
devastating war

so here I am 
a prisoner