A ray of sunlight comes rampaging in my creaky wooden walls

It stretches all the way down and runs throught the holes in my shawl

I fall onto the ground trying to wake up from my bed

It's hard living in a city where there is no shortage of bloodshed

I do not know what they fight for

The war has taken my brother, father and many more.

I am the first one to awaken

So I make breakfast with the food that we have, two nights ago everything was taken

My mother has been a mess since father died

She spent three days doing nothing, just cried

The gas burner will not turn on so I forget about breakfast

So I look to my brother and laugh when I see a torn poster of a Lexus

I make my way to the washroom

In the mirror I see my swollen stomach thinking how my baby is doing in the womb

I look up at my dirt-ridden face and ask,

"Why has God chosen this place?"

~Mani Venkatesh~