For The Children Who Are Wounded In War
Our childhood was strikingly different from theirs.
We were covered in dust when we came home from play.
When children of Palestine go out to play, they don't come back.
Our mothers would hug us tight when we cried, hushing us to sleep with a sweet lullaby.
When they weep, people ask–is this a lie?
They burst into bloody tears, and they question–is this a lie?
And they cry until they die. Yet, the wisdom still wonders–was that all a lie?
Our backpacks had broken crayons and pencils, forgotten like silly pledges of peace.
Their backpacks had broken bones and body parts of siblings the world would soon forget.
We scribbled our names on school walls and notebooks.
Their names are written on their arms and backs, like labeling potato sacks.
It is a land of many little things–olives, dates, days, dreams, shelters, children, food and water.
Even the Sun sprinkles into little pieces and falls at night.
And their tiny skulls bounce with the river's ebb and flow, like little moons dipping into red skies.
We also had many little things–eclairs, coins, dices and dolls.
But our dreams are no longer little–they have evolved with us and now look like facts.
We were born in white-washed hospitals, wrapped in warm clothes.
They–at the edge of swords, shrouded at birth.
Our youth was not crushed under the rubble, snared in bomb shells and shrunk to bullets.
Our childhood was indeed strikingly different from theirs.
We were plain children whose cries were not pleas; we feared ghosts, not guns.
We didn't smile in pain, and we had no courage; no one told us we needed it.
They smile while they bleed and laugh, embracing death.
No one tells them they don't need it either.
Ava Mahtab is a writer and doctor from Saudi Arabia. She composes poetry, articles, and short stories inspired by nature and her work experiences. Mahtab has been writing for a few years and has received recognition on various platforms. Poetry, in her opinion, should not just be something to admire and read for leisure, but to impact, inspire, and encourage others.
