The Story of a Child (Palestine)

The Story of a Child (Palestine)

The story of a child
Not combat attire.
The story of a child
Disarrayed in the rain.
Columns of tanks in battle array
And a woman carrying a pitcher of the rain.
She is his mother in total disarray
Welcoming him in the sunshine rain.
Son, come drink this water from the day’s rain!
Where’s it, Mama?
Cries the boy disarrayed in the rain.
My hospital leg? My hospital leg?
The woman points to the column
Of tanks in battle array
Where stood their home before the morn’s rain.
The boy limps on
On a single leg
Limps he on
To find the rally on.
His father lay high in the rain
On shoulders and tears of the day’s rain
Gift-wrapped in the nation’s rain
Face high in the rain
Peace! O Peace!
How doest thou lounge in this rain?

By Safi Abdi