Bitter Collectibles

A treasure chest of memories

a menagerie of impish grins

adoration and love sublime

pages of solitary apprehensions

and agonizing whims.

Hearts broken scattered

in strange lands

the nation

a possessor of young lives

donated in battlefields.

This liberation

paid a price benumbing

lost innocence

ravaged souls

now a slave

laden leaden.

© Sandhya Suri