how would a pacifist survive in syria today

probably wouldn't
nonviolent civil resistance
brings you to saydnaya prison
where you'll be tortured
then hung by the neck
until dead
with the many thousands
who once held protest signs
and now share a mass grave

if you somehow avoid being picked up

by the executioners
you might try escaping
but to where and how

overland to the sea

and then a raft

getting to the closest embassy

to only find locked doors
executive orders
and the closing down of visas

there is no civilization left

for the peaceful
for the defeated
for the solitary voice of sympathy
for the soft hands that refuse the fist
that refuse the rationales of power
that refuse participating other than by dying
on the sword of injustice
on the plain of lost souls

--- e b bortz