Saturday, July 12, 2014

Are You Still Alive?



 
i passed you on the street one day.
You stood in front of the rubble
Of your once beautiful house,
Your palms extended to the sky.

i sat with you at
Your child’s funeral tent.
We drank sweet tea, you told me
“Fares was the engine of our home.”
Just another boy,
Martyred in his bed.

i was with you, reaping
In the fields of Khouza.
i was with you in the Gaza sea,
The gunboats lit us up.

You called me brother.
You called me habibi.

i saw you on the battlefront,
a flower in your hair.

i was with you in the camp.
You had a message for America,
You said, “Tell your friends,
We are here in Gaza,
But we are not afraid.”
Mohammed, eight years old,
brave beyond his years.

Today, i saw a picture
Of a small blood soaked shoe.
And the Israeli occupiers
Are bombing homes again.

Today, i have but one
Question for you:
My friend,
Are you still alive?