Screams thickened the air,
A scene taken from a nightmare,
Flames licked through the dry grass,
Tribe members pounded the ground, fleeing,
Rifles blasting, the sound deafening,
I hid in my hut,
Peering through the window,
The air smelled of smoke and blood,
My parents’ heads lay a stone’s throw away,
Turning the grass red,
The sky was holding its breath,
Those who once screamed for life moments ago,
Lay dead,
Staining the African desert,
Dark,
Dark,
Red.
Oak Park Library is currently closed and will re-open on Monday, Dec. 18 at 9 a.m.