According to the latest edition of the Global Peace Index (GPI) published by the International Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP) there are currently 56 active conflicts, more than at any time since the end of WW2. Many are civil wars but 92 countries are involved in conflicts beyond their borders. Some of the worst affected regions are the the Middle East – especially Palestine, the Sahel Region of West Africa, Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Myanmar and Ukraine.

The statistics of death and destruction, the millions of refugees and displaced persons and the economic costs are horrific. But the figures only hint at the true cost of war in the untold stories of its many victims. I have tried to respond with poems that celebrate their lives. This poem is my latest attempt.

COUNTING THE COST

When the numbers mount it can be numbing.
If all we do is count the cost are we becoming
Complicit in the slaughter?

This girl is not a number.
She is --- she was somebody's daughter.

How do we count the cost of grief?
The undreamt dreams?
The unwritten poems?
The never to be born?

One, Two - It could be me or you.
Three, Four - We did not ask for war.
Five, Six - This rubble once was bricks.
Seven, Eight - Too soon for heaven's gate.
Nine, Ten - And now it starts again!