Ever Reaching... a series of poems concerning Palestine by Anne Selden Annab

2002
Ever Reaching... Al Nakba, 53 years

A series of poems by Anne Selden Annab
Commemorating the Palestinians and their 53 years of suffering [as of 2011 it is now 63 years] and their never ending struggle to live and prosper, despite the horrific and demoralizing circumstances under which they must live.

     Ever Reaching...  Al Nakba-
                      53 Years

 In Israel- ever reaching
 the land lays fallow
 weeds of concrete blocks
 and bitter minds
 displace the fragrant herbs.

 Cities rise
 full of excuses
 for all they're not.

 In Israel- ever reaching
 a child's ethnicity
 determines
  education
 or lack there of.

 In Israel- ever reaching
 borders are but another
   war to rage

 another zone
 to raze

another village
 remapped
 renamed
 refilled

      with foreign eyes
  who have never seen
 the beauty of the hills.


********


     Eyewitnesses.... Al Nakba-
                      53 years

 Eyewitnesses
    still live,
 looking on

  as lush lawns
  are layered over
 a land once grazed
 by woolly lambs
 and scampering
   goats

A land once
   fragrant
 with stories
 and laughter,
 bubbling
    and flowing
 like water in a brook.

 Generation to generation
  shifting and blooming
 like spring flowers
  bursting forth
 every where
  and every one

 knew of a cousin nearby
   falling deeply in love
       or cooking
 or sewing
 or tending to an orchard
   of ancient olive trees.


*********



          Black Flags... Al Nakba
                       53 Years

 Black flags
   flap and flutter

 and dance on the desert breeze

all the wounds
             and the deaths
            and imprisonments

 all the homes lost
 and sons destroyed
 and daughters maimed

 All the dark reflections
    of storm clouds
           collecting in a well

 and all the inked shadows
        of a moonless night
  that swirl
 in the splash
 and sweet draught
 of cupped water
splashed on thirsty lips:

             All the hope
 that these dark dark memories

   will be answered by justice-
       The truth kept safe
              by a mother's constant love.
 

**************

  Blood to Ink... Al- Nakba
                        53 years

 Luscious gardens are grown
 from a trickle of water
 and a handful of seeds:

 Papyrus grows tall
   full of wild birds
  eared owls and egrets
             and insects
   and fish.  Time passes.
       Things change

 Vellum is carefully scraped
    worked with berries and ore

 Words lovingly copied
 even as

 Trees turn to paper

     blood to ink

 And the paper
 is painstakingly
         stained

  with
 the cherished
      names
 of  Palestinian
                        villages

   depopulated by gunpoint  in 1948.


*****************



 A Mother's Hand...  Al Nakba
                      53 Years

Bless all those
   who love
 and linger in their love

 A mother's hand
          on a child's heart

 gently, ever so gently,
      reminding her child
             of his sacred place

in the hearts of all.

 Bless all those
   who know and understand

 and keep safe

 every child

   of any age

                       and race.

poem & photo copyright ©2002 Anne Selden Annab