Rivers Of Different Worlds

A thousand ships parade
Down the river Thames
A thousand lifeless bodies sail
Down rivers of their own making
More than seventy years of a peaceful reign
More than seventy days of constant air raids
Subhan Allah, she said,
As she flipped between two channels
Two opposing images
Of celebration
And desecration
Two different worlds,
On the same TV,
I thought seeing something pretty would make me
Feel better
It only made me feel worse
To see a thousand ships parade
On the river Thames
And a thousand bodies sail
In rivers of their own making.