an elegy for palestine

death rattle of a boy, unknowable

hand lunging, the last grasp for a mother

who martyred, who mattered

whose battered finger tagged

No. 13625

hers or his? faceless in war

defaced in scores, a farce they call

Most Moral Army of All

defend, secure, subdue! the Strip

of life, bloody hand draws the pen

One man signs the toll for

Fifty five thousand only—

but he does not pay

King of a chequered wasteland,

how long do you prey?

under your god-guised hate

from 1948 to your checkmate

how long more? until the sunbird’s call

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In light of the 77th anniversary of Nakba*, I thought I would write a poem for the people in Palestine, and by extension those in all wars and conflicts around the world. This poem is about those who have endured so much pain and death at the hands of a few in power. It is about the few who see the land of the people as a chessboard; who advance their “pieces” to capture land and topple anyone in their way; who see life as a game where brute strength is power.

I remember this video I watched while on the train. It was a security camera footage of a boy half my age walking through the devastated streets of Palestine. I knew what I was going into when I clicked on the video; its caption explicitly warned me about its contents. In the face of the gruesome deaths I am sheltered from, what are a few seconds of detached discomfort? I watched the video, heard the gunshots, and saw his collapse. I saw his outstretched hand, his gurgled cries for a mother who never came. I watched it until my pain became even a fraction of his, of the thousands who have witnessed and experienced this every single day for decades. He was on my mind while I wrote this poem.

My distanced pain is nothing in comparison to those in Palestine who endure a genocide to this very day. A genocide that kills more each day until there is no humanity left. I only hope through this poem to extend solidarity to victims of genocides in Palestine, Sudan, Yemen, Iraq, and more. To express my sorrow for the countless lives that genocidal dictators have taken, both past and present. To hope for the freedom of all oppressed peoples.

*https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/nakba-palestine-catastrophe-explained