MY CHILD

 

My child is wrapped in a white sheet

Lifeless

My eyes are streaming with tears

Endless

My heart is devastated with grief

Immeasurable

My lips kiss her forehead again

Demoralized

My arms hold her tight to my chest

Bewildered

My body is devoid of strength

lethargic 

My cries shout out in anger

Dumbfounded

My mind is perplexed

Incomprehensible 

SAY SOMETHING

What can I do

What can I say

To make you sway

To make you stew

Enough to make a call

Advocate for morality

Champion humanity

A measure so small

If we all turn a blind eye

Looked the other way

Not a word we say

Letting the time fly

Maybe the atrocities will go away

Maybe another story will consume

Sweep our emotions like a broom

Escape from our mind in a day

There are so many atrocities

You say to me

Too many for me to see

Who am I to influence policies

Neutrality helps the oppressor

Never the victim

Silence is a symptom 

Silence assists the tormentor

Do something say something

Speak to your friend

Speak to no end

It starts by communicating

-Fadi Zanayed

November 3, 2023

6:32 am 

A TALE OF TWO PALESTINIANS

I am here

He is there

Tranquility surrounds me 

Pandemonium surrounds him

I fear nothing 

He fears bombs 

Peacefulness in my home

Helplessness in his tent

Food a plenty fills me

Hungry belly aches him

Water on my nightstand 

Water he cannot find 

Warmth under my covers

Chills through his bones

Tears in my eyes

Survival on his mind

-Fadi Zanayed 

December 6, 2023

11:36 pm

A SEED RISES

A father is anticipating
His first child rejoicing
Away looking for food
In this catastrophic mood
His son is born
In a war zone
He has not returned today
Bombs falling what can I say
The mother’s tears fall
Upon the child and us all
The child with no name
Scurrying quickly is to blame
 No diapers to change
No clothes to exchange
No food to nourish
No water to flourish
What is this child’s fate
Born on this date
No father to see
No joy no glee
Will anger spring forth
Will revenge be his growth
A father died this day
A son is born this day
A body is buried today
A martyr’s seed rises today

- Fadi Zanayed, December 9, 2023 5:46 am

I wrote this poem after I saw a video of a recently born child in Gaza.

CONSUMED

 

I am tired and exhausted

Overwhelmed

demoralized and

Fatigued

I’m on my phone constantly

Reading

Copying and

Pasting

Another truth I post

Writing

Talking and

Educating

My friends everywhere

Atrocities

Grief and

Humanity

I cry out to the world

Babies

Helpless

Endless

-Fadi Zanayed

November 2, 2023

12:19 pm

HOPE IN A CHILD

Sitting on the rubble

Lamenting my struggle

Oh my heart aches

Sounds my stomach makes

Thoughts in my mind

Relief I do not find

Destruction all around me

Dead bodies I see

Where is my son

What have they done

I shout out my pain

No venue to explain

Does anybody care

Wondering as I stare

Up to the sky I gaze

Around me a blaze

I hear a voice very near

A child cries by my ear

I remove a heavy block

Upon a child my eyes lock

I pull her up into my arms

Agony hidden by her charms

She is alive

Hope does survive

My inner spirit I revive

Indestructible in overdrive

You can kill my physicality

But never my mentality

Know my struggle and see

My spirit will make me free

A VOICE OF DETERMINATION

 I hear a voice

A faint voice underneath

Underneath the rubble

My ears get near

 Nearer and nearer

I remove one stone 

Another stone then another

I see his eyes 

 Eyes of determination

To live above the rubble 

I pull him up

And up he raises a flag

  A Palestinian flag 

FADI  ZANAYED

January 31, 2024

8:46 am