Quiet mid-afternoon
in a modest semi-detached,
a child cries.

His young mother gently encourages
a mashed-up banana,
he normally likes that.

Too tired to play
with his toy soldiers
and action men.

She frets,
probably over nothing,
but so fragile are these little souls.

On the news, in Lebanon a child cries,
looking for her stricken mother.
The young boy stops crying, as he watches helplessly.