Tell Me
I wrote this poem in search of a better tomorrow
I wrote this poem in search of a better tomorrow and read it aloud at a celebration of Yom Kippur hosted by Jewish Voice for Peace in Madison, Wisconsin.
Tell me all those mothers and daughters fathers and sons, oldest and youngest have not died in vain Tell me there will be whole beings left to walk forward out of this mess of injustice Tell me the weak have power can change the world that might will not supersede human rights Tell me the dispossessed will once again be on their land, grow khas and sabanikh, simsim and batikha [1] Tell me the stones of the land will only cover homes [2] no need to fly from fists Tell me mothers will carry their children instead of children carrying jugs of water Tell me evening strolls will take in the scent of jasmine not the stench of death Tell me fireworks will light up the sky over celebrations of love and life not bombs of death and destruction Tell me that overcrowded streets are bustling markets not the relocation and concentration of the displaced yet again Tell me schools will be filled with students not those seeking shelter when nowhere is safe Tell me hospitals will offer healing not house the homeless, performing C-sections and amputations without anesthesia Tell me babies will be born to term live their lives as children, as teens not die as WCNSF [3] Tell me there is clean water to drink, flush, and wash rather than sewage in the streets Tell me there are shoes, clothes, and scarves rubble free roads, a roof, not bombs, overhead Tell me there is food and fuel shops and services not starvation in the dark Tell me the only buzzing I hear are bees the roar waves crashing onto shore airstrikes no more Tell me from now on children get to keep their limbs and faces shake no more from fright Tell me we can bury our dead with dignity not wonder who still lives beneath the rubble Tell me this nightmare will end, not in surrender and silence but freedom from the river to the sea Tell me why so many must die to prove we deserve to live [1] Khas (romaine) and sabanikh (spinach) are winter harvests, simsim (sesame) and batikha (watermelon) are summer harvests. [2] Palestinian homes are ‘dressed in stone’ (labis hajr) meaning the outmost layer of the home is covered in cut stone. Stone quarries are a major industry in Palestine. Different regions of Palestine are known for their unique color variations of stone. The destroyed village of Deir Yassin, the site of a massacre on April 9, 1948, was famous for its rose-colored stone quarries. [3] So many children are the only survivors of Israeli airstrikes in their families, giving them the label Wounded Child, No Surviving Family (WCNSF).