Shoes

You can see them here

blocked together in a town square,

laid out symbolically in rows.

Empty shoes.

Rows upon rows of them

that once contained the toddlers

or school children

now dead,

killed by bombs

and bullets.

See here,

empty shoes.

Rows and rows of them.

Sandals that will never play on a beach,

school shoes that will never see a school,

all those shoes that will never contain feet.

Shoes of children and peaceful people,

our children.

our people 

spanning place and time without end.

https://edgeofhumanity.com/2024/09/07/shoes/