My first day at school By Lee Cassanell

Do you believe in the devil? the black widow said, As she kicked at my friend to make sure she was dead I replied with a glare of disgust and defeat And then closed the scared eyes of the girl at my feet The cries of the babies howl loud though my ears I'd cry with them too but I've used up my tears I watch as the ghosts move the lost from the living The guns look like toys in the hands of the women A boy tries to run but he's caught by the scruff She hit's him twice hard as if one wasn't enough. The bandit strolls round shouting curse after curse My stomach screams empty and lips shake with thirst A sudden explosion rips concrete and glass I cover my face from the heat of the blast The smell of flesh searing and fresh burning wood Is the last thing I feel for I taste my own blood In this place that a cold hearted God has abandoned I hear a prayer whispered, And silently strangled. I once saw a film of a far away war, Grey soldiers and ships fighting brave on the shore My father said Son that's a glorious thing .. But there's no glory here In the dark Beslan gym......

Copyright ©2004  Lee Cassanell

I used to like watching Friends; it's a relaxing, nonsense of a program that the term chewing gum for the eyes for practically invented for. At 8pm tonight I watched a 30-minute news flash on the horrors that had occurred at a faraway Russian school and as that report came to an end and the opening titles of Friends splashed across the screen..I realised what a ridiculous fucking programme it actually is. Still, tomorrows another day and next weeks a lifetime away and I bet you a diddle eye Joe to a damned if I know that I'll be watching Friends before the months out and the Beslan tragedy will be nothing more then a distant memory on a dusty shelf, somewhere in the far corners of my mind. Such is life.

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