Gaza Haiku

Little Arab child
Lying in the burning dust
No help anywhere

Who would massacre
Grandparents and parents and
Innocent children?

Israel has left
All of its humanity
Outside in the dark

As hard as it tries
Israel can’t kill Gaza
A dream never dies

Under the rubble
There are rumblings of rebirth
Palestine will live

Hear oh Israel
Your kingdom will not fluorish
Your dream will not bloom

Israeli soldiers
Pillaging and plundering –
The bravest and best

The Zionist myth
Of the land of the fathers
Is breathing its last

Even now whisperings
Of rebirth and renewal –
The dead are speaking

Oh little Arab child
Lying in the burning dust
Gaza is alive

Buff Whitman-Bradley’s pamphlet, Broken Stars: Gaza Poems, is available from Fomite Press. All the poems in it originally appeared in Dissident Voice. Read other articles by Buff.