The way my world is seen, at fourteen

The plot of a movie, a nightmarish dream
When I was small, that’s all war meant to me
Started by the snap of a villain’s hand
Fights over magic & make believe land

Some little kids can't have the same fantasy
Living in war zones, their lives so full of agony

Kids my age without a piece of bread
Refugees, the injured & the dead

So much death & so many hurt
All I see is a world just burnt
Wars, hunger, destruction & hate
It's hard to have hope, when you think it's too late

Yet the world goes on spinning
Some people fighting, some grinning

Paradise & pain & heaven & sin
For that is the world I'm growing up in
We will inherit the world this way
A world once blue & green now grey

We think we're modern, we're smart, we're refined
But AI won't bring the world peace of mind

In some lands, full of slaughter
Death waits in lines for food & water
Those dead are someone's son or daughter
Yet there are some who cheer from across the border

Human rights, empathy and virtue
Are not important in today’s view
No, not in a world of careful strategy
Where power is traded, not morality

A world where heads don’t seem to turn
A society where some girls can’t learn
Recognizing it, giving power to silence
Is accepting a nation’s brutal violence

Not a fantasy, not a nighttime dream
The truth of war cuts deeper than it seems
The world I inherit is cracked right through
I maybe 14 but it's my world too