…Cambodia, Rwanda, Syria… Wars never cease on the earth. Peace is pulverized. Each battle drags children into a vortex of anguish in the front line or at home. They lose their butterflies among bombs and bullets. Pure rapture curls like mango peel in tension. Tender lives tarnish. Lullabies are lost in the death rattle. Scattered young blood stains history. The voice from beneath the headstone is not an auditory hallucination, but a doleful echo from a little soul. The orphans get food in the refugee camp, but where will they seek their lost mom and dad? Childhood charms are mutilated. They’re prisoners of trauma. A platoon of terror marches through their mental corridors. First published in "Humans in the Wild" anthology (Swallow Publishing). Reprinted in "The Literary Hatchet" (Pear Tree Press).