Night Barrage

Wikipedia

Cambodia, 1972

A symphony is the sum
of individual sounds,
as a mortar barrage
is a collection of
individual shots fired,

headed toward your head.

If you listened hard,

you could hear,

in the smash
of shells falling,

mortality tuning up,

preparing to announce
death’s arrival,

proclaiming

the totality
of human madness
and human fear.