Sirens of death 

Listen, listen to the drums of war
how they beat
like human hearts in agony
listen to the sirens how they scream
like human voices
mourning the future deads
look at the fear on the faces of the children
an hecatomb of deaths is being prepared
for justice, they say, or for freedom
for their own interest, I say,
so to count money with dirty palms
to fill greedy pockets
from the death trade.

The war is called crisis now.
The truths are hidden like ostriches behind the words.

And the children are uprooted.
And souls are engraved.
And people are divided.
And life is shrinking.

Listen, listen to the drums, the voices as they approach.
They are not so far, do not mock yourself.

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Alexia Kalogeropoulou is a poet, author, and journalist. She has studied Psychology at The School of Philosophy of the University of Athens and holds an MA in Cultural Studies and Human Communication from the University of Athens. She has published the poetry collections Words in the Sand (24grammata publications, 2019) and After celebration customs (24grammata publications, 2020). In 2014, she created the website BookSitting.gr for books, arts and ideas. Poems of hers have been translated in Italian and English.