1

2 Raphael

3

4 I was there: I knew

Finding the bodies

Gray, torn, lifeless

Stiff, can't be saved

Despair, bleak despair

I can't save them

Couldn't save them

Not fast enough

Not good enough

Why?

I was trying: I don't know

How long was it

How hard was it

Grasping lives in a hand

That shook; lives that

Slipped away

No matter how hard I tried

They went further

Than I could reach

Why?

I was then: I knew

Fumbling with somebody's

Severed hand, leg, wrist

Gore, blood, ichor

Splattered over me

There is no escape

There was no escape

Am I crying?

Did I know them?

Why…?