I hid under the bench

As the soldiers stormed by.

I waited for the quiet,

But it never came.

I saw them take away my family,

My hope, my dreams, my life.

I saw them destroy everything I knew.

I saw myself left alone and empty.

The shots they fired still ring in my head.

The smooth wood still tickles my skin.

The nightmare through which I lived

Will never die.

I saw my friends be killed.

I saw myself begin to die.

I have lived through so much,

And I have barely lived.

But the worst part of it all

Is that it never ended,

And has never stopped.