"My Loyal Cactus" a Gaza poem by Ahmed Miqdad

"My Loyal Cactus"

 

a Gaza poem by Ahmed Miqdad

 

My loyal cactus,

I'm sorry to leave you alone in my balcony

I have no excuse except being forced to go to the south

Under the barrage of heavy bombs,

Frightening explosions and thousands of martyrs.

I'm sorry again to let you encounter the terrible days and nights,

Witness the destruction of my surrounding neighborhood

And let you face thirst for more than a year without a sip of water

But I was there hungry and starving like you

When I came back

I found you still stalwart

Only some scars on your body

As a testimony on the merciless soldiers.

Let me hug you tightly and console you

Because your thorns more delicate

Than the hypocrisy of humanity.

Palestinian Artist ...Ahmad Yaseen

Palestinian Artist .... poignant photo found on social media, but I could not find a name or photo credit or title in English beyond "Palestinian Artist" and this:  القدس - alquds

UPDATE
from my friend

Mike Hanini Odetalla added 7 new photos

For Palestinian artist, spiny cactus makes perfect canvas...
Ahmad Yaseen makes stunning drawings on cactus pads. His colleagues from the art faculty at An-Najah University in the Palestinian city of Nablus relate that people are impressed not only by his great skills as a painter but also by his original way of expressing Palestinian suffering: using a raw material that no one had ever before contemplated.

“I do not paint martyrs, nor do I paint scenes occurring in the current conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. I draw elements that provide also a glimmer of hope and not just despair....

His favorite set of drawings is of two newborns. One is resting in his mother’s arms while the other is breastfeeding. From above, the arms of the mother of the second baby look like a keyless lock. Generally speaking, keys are a recurring motif in Yaseen’s drawings. “This is the key of return,” he explained, adding that it also represents hope.

“I have mumbled the words 'sumud' [perseverance] and 'sabr' [patience], and sabr sounds like 'sabra' [cactus],” he said. “Sabra is a plant symbolizing the land of Palestine, expressing the rugged nature of the people. It grows everywhere, under all weather conditions. Tenacious and strong, it is hard to stamp out. What better way than to use this plant through which to relate the Palestinian narrative?”