Midnight Screams

Midnight Screams

Midnight screams
Pierced the layers
Of my enveloping sleep.
They, all of a sudden
Plundered my laden
Lids of happy dreams
Robbed me of my life’s
Fragrant recaps.

My conscious mind
Caught the heartrending
Cries, punctuated
By sobs and wailing.

Is that the scream of a wife
Beaten and battered by strife
Brought on by a drunkard-
A husband who once vowed
To support and safeguard
Her till death, their ways parted?

Is that the anguished
Cry of a little child separated
From her mother and a warm bed
Snatched and seized
To be heinously sold
By those of greed,
Those of a cruel trade?

Or is it the pitiful wail of a mother
Ailing, alone and unattended to suffer
From a soul full of fear
A spirit full of despair
Crying and imploring
God Almighty to bring
Her the balm of His blessing?

Oh, for God’s sake whose screams are they?

Those soul-moving,
Conscience-stirring
Midnight screams
Which startled me
Out of complacence
Igniting in me an urge
To share a thousand woes.

Sexond place winner in Coloring the world contest.