A brilliant pink pram
A mothers’ pride
Soft silk sheets
to coddle gentle new skin
Petite white pillow
to cushion a newborns fragile head
Shiny satin siding and an embroidered hood
to shield newly seeing eyes from the bright sun
Big colourful wheels ready
to proudly parade new joy through the streets
But it sits empty
in the center of the square
Empty, like the ones beside
And in front
And behind
Rows and rows of barren prams
Void of the short lives they once held
Cruelly ripped from the earth
Babies have become
The casualties of one monsters’ war on humanity
109 prams sit empty
109 tiny souls taken
109 tears will never be enough

Growing up in Ottawa and New Jersey, Andrea Vasile is greatly inspired by nature and the ever-changing city. She won a contest for Valentine’s poetry in The Ottawa Journal in 1979. She found continued success in Clevermag, Turbula, Jones Ave and Ascent Aspirations. Recently in The Basil O’Flaherty, Feminist Voice, Event Horizon Literary Magazine Issue 9, Oddball Ezine, Mocking Owl Roost and receiving third prize from the poet laureate of Ottawa for “I Am a Human Being.”