As Mommies Run

She walks
But she runs
Runs for her life
holding the hand of another.
The life she carries
jostles and jumps
in the water that shelters life.

Yet she walks
Though in heart she
sprints like the gazelle
Fleeing from the jaws of death
Her heart beats
Cold sweat breaks
Death shoots her down
And her kind
Her own kind shoots her down
And she flees towards
The unknown, the vicious
Or so they say.

The one she holds stumbles
But she drags him along
He screams in pain .
But she drags him along
Shouts
Screams
bullets hit and miss
and she walks her run
Walks her run
and the little jolts and jostles.

Through water and ground
She skids on mud and the
rough stones prick her feet
reminding of times to come
And the blessed end
Or a beginning to an end
looms ahead in shades of green.

She holds him close and stares
With empty eyes
Terribly horribly scared
And he cries
Cries and she holds on
As she limply accepts her fate
Kindness when granted
Food when served
Sanitation that's available
Medication salves the pain
The little one smiles a little
And the other one is quiet
For the waters have settled
For the moment.

Meanwhile
I waddle slowly
As people rush pass me.
I am late
I want to rush
Run to catch my transport
To get me to my son.
But my run is a walk
My waters are calm and
She is safe in her watery home.
My son… He is safe
I am thankful

I think of the other
So far a way yet so near
Both of us surrounded by the same waters
 I could have been her
And she could have been me
As mummies run.