Showing posts with label children. Show all posts
Showing posts with label children. Show all posts

Monday, May 13, 2024

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 

Monday, February 10, 2014

Jenin

(This poem was written in 2010.)

The reader may not want to read this poem
For the descriptions herein may make you cry
It may even move you away from your apathy
So if you are prepared to activate your soul, continue to read
But if you are going to read this poem and walk away
Walk away without any feeling--then stop, stop right here

Last night I received an email
Horrific pictures of an atrocity
Inflicted by a people, mighty as can be
Against a defenseless people, weak as can be seen

There is this one picture out of many that horrifies me
It is of a dismembered body part that is unrecognizable
Is it a leg or an arm?
Is it a part of a stomach, buttock and leg?
Is it parts of the legs and half a buttock?
You cannot really tell

The middle part of this body part is missing the skin
Internal organs or intestines or bones or all three are exposed
The color red is significantly present
The curvy maligned internal parts render the severity of the atrocity

What barrage of shells exploded upon this body?
Was it a guided missile?
Why would a missile hit this person?
What did he or she do to deserve this dismemberment?

Is it a part of a child?
A mother
A grandmother
A sister
On the other hand, is she a mother, grandmother, sister all in one?

Is it your brother?
Your father
Your grandfather
On the other hand, is he a father, grandfather, brother all in one?


Do you care? 

Sunday, December 23, 2012

IN HONOR OF MARTYR MUHAMMAD AL-SALAMEH



My fingers are positioned to write down my thoughts
But my thoughts ache to send them to my fingers   
Illusionary words spring forth to appease
A concept not unlike a perceived perception
For I can paint a picture of deception  
Make a rainy day look sunny
Make it seem that black is white
Mass produce a sham
To make you believe
But my heart jumps in
To present the reality
To state my case in open transparency
Truth cannot be hidden
To those willing to seek the truth
So I write about a child
Who the occupying soldiers say pointed a toy gun
Truth be told
No toy was ever exposed
A video has been produced
Not within hours but after a manipulative week
On his seventeenth birthday
He was used to intimidate
To strike fear into Palestinian hearts
A soldier will go unpunished
If I shout out terrorist soldier
My heart does not object
For the picture I painted is of the truth
No manipulation need be perceived
No illusion need be seen
The truth is the truth
Israeli soldiers are terrorists