Dearest L
The people here are rising up
Soon, the king will fall
You were right to get out
I’m beginning to learn the language
Yet, still can’t speak of all I’ve lost
At dawn, soldiers flew a bright red flag
Over Parliament Square
I pictured you on the Basilica steps
Your silk dress tailored by the breeze
One long lost afternoon
I walk the backstreets, late into the evening
Drinking in...

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That jangling tune 
told of sweet times ahead
Children playing with hosepipes 
on hot summer streets
and gleaming bikes ridden
across freshly swept pavements
How the ice cream van 
sparked joy and hope
O, the heady idyl 
of childhood…

Now the ice cream van 
toils a different purpose
macabre and tuneless
its contents chilling
The limbs of children
parts of mothers
Lifeless figures...

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