heart of the rubble
she paused
in the man-made rubble
on top of torpedoed dome—
the dust has settled.
rescuers have fled now,
digging with bare hands
for a family of four in
az-Zahayada, Deir al-Balah.
in black & white keffiyeh
styled like a hijab,
elegantly draped
in embroidered thobe she’s
boldly staring at us
as wildfires and apocalyptic
rage encircle. Gaza
not yet wiped off the map
yet we laugh, live, eat,
& be merry, transformed
into stone inside.
strange how one life
seems to weigh so much,
while another fades away.
ashes have no place to go
but fertilize the land &
when winds of change blow,
surely as she sits there
from history we know:
empires come, empires go.
Another poem by Skendong: Gaza: Students voice superior language of the unheard