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Gaza Poems by Yahia Lababidi

Gaza Poems by Yahia Lababidi

Purity

 

Renounce all violence

of heart, word and deed—

only the blameless shall lead

 

Visionaries of this age,

like prophets of ages past,

are the moral reformers.

 

1/19/2024

 

 


 

 

Poems

 

I sent my poem sailing in the sky

and it did not make me rich,

but it landed on a far shore

and taught children to make a wish

 

I sent more poems out to sea

and they did not bring me a wife—

yet guided fishermen home in a storm

and by helping others, they saved my life.

 

1/24/2024

 

 


 

 

Hungering 

 

In the midst of darkness 

and ugliness,

I hungered

for light and beauty

 

I found it 

reading and writing—

poetry, mysticism,

then silence.

 

 

1/17/2024

 

 


 

 

Starving

 

When did we learn

starvation is acceptable

as a form of punishment?

 

‘Go to your room,’

children are told

‘no dinner for you’

 

Today, we witness

Palestinians denied food,

dignity or even mercy

 

When can they leave

their prison cells,

occupied since birth?

 

1/29/2024

 

 


 

 

Palestinian Music

 

For more than a hundred days,

in a daze, I read & wrote of Gaza

stunned, overwhelmed, indignant

 

Yet, all along, unable to cry

(I don’t know why)

until, today…

 

Listening to Palestinian music

I wept, helplessly, at the pity,

longing, waste of it all & weep still.

 

1/31/2024

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