Love and Loss
In a place called Deir Al-Balah
A small wood fire gives sparse light
As a family huddle in a concrete room.
The father asks, ‘What’s wrong Elaf?
Is it Yousef at your kindergarten?’
Her eyes light up.
‘I looked for Mohammad Taha
But couldn’t find him.’
‘Stop it, dad!’ She shyly grinned,
Burying her head in her father’s chest.
‘Yousef is her friend,’
Brother Emad spurts. Chuckles echo.
Then reflective pause –
‘I have a poem,’ the father recited:
‘Leave me to my tiresome worries
As I suffer through a night
Slowed down by the stars.
The night grew so long
That I thought it wouldn’t end.
And he who takes care of the stars
Is not without mercy…’
Miles away, in my darkened room,
I started crying just as a moth
Entered my window ajar, attracted
By swaying candlelight and martyred
Its powdery self upon the flame.
Watch: A child of Gaza: The war through a child’s eyes
Poem by Skendong: Laid Bare: Ancient Prophesy, Epic Conflict & Destiny