Dedicated to Darfur

By Toya Y. Williams

My children know the way of the gun

Not that old rusty hand me down "six shooter"

Missiles are like blowing out birthday candles

The last wind of war blowing out the new year of a man or

A woman

Yes my children know of war

Harsh war...long and evil

And I must send them to march for the rights of my God, my nation, my unborn

children

Whether I be father or mother

I know one day the stiff wind of war will engulf my children

My  belly as a mother aches

His spine trembles as a father

We must watch as they march

Assembling into adulthood

I must hand my son a knife to cut down our enemies

And they will hand their children detonators

I ache, I ache

In this war bound smoke these letters are clear

WAR BEFORE MY CHILDREN

Toya Y. Williams is a final year student at Virginia Wesleyan College, Virginia Beach, USA. She was awarded a Presidential and White House Silver medal for Community Services in 2005 and is a 2006 Poetry Ambassador for the United States.