This was a poem I wrote when I was a junior in high school, regarding the city of Aleppo in Syria. The conflict in Syria took a major toll on its population, in particular, Aleppo. Aleppo is the largest city in Syria and at the time that this was written, this city which was once filled with color and culture turned into a debilitated and war-ravaged ghost of what it once was. Aleppo was divided into two: the rebels and the Syrian government. The Syrian government was able to overpower the rebels and take control of the city again.

Aleppo may have been liberated from the rebels, but not from the disastrous and heartbreaking after effects. Hundreds of thousands of civilians lost their lives as a result of this war and many took refuge in surrounding countries. This horrifying war was something I was deeply passionate about in high school. The news of the conflict invigorated anger, sadness, and shock in me, after seeing how much of a toll the war had on its people who were simply just innocent bystanders.

Syria's Conflict — Aleppo

Blood and dust
Rubble and destruction
Carrying their loved ones
Ravaged and destroyed
By the siege and the hatred
The bombs and the Rebels
The culture is gone, the history no more
The history is a new one
Being painted
By the blood of the people
By the tears of the children
By the cries of the mothers
By the pain of the fathers
Wake up America
They need your help
Forget the politics
How about some common sense?
We're so caught up in our ignorance
We fail to see the innocence
Of the children that are dying
Their lives are merely statistics
Of who is alive and who is gone
In the fight between humanity and insanity
Let's take a look at the only statistic that matters:
One hundred percent human.