By: Najwa Juma, a Palestinian poet – Stuttgart, Germany
Selected Poems A Song of Eternity on the Hill of Slaughter: Poems from a Genocide.
You are alive, spitting at death’s will,
borne by warplanes,
sprung from triggers,
spat from clouds.
You are alive,
beneath your home’s sunken bones,
atop its shattered altars,
amid your scattered limbs,
by the cemetery’s wall.
You are alive,
through children’s cries,
bereaved weeping,
elders’ trembling pleas,
the terror of birds and alley cats.
You are alive,
past bleeding wounds,
lost arms,
parched throats,
and roads in grief.
You are alive,
despite drones’ roar,
the mutiny of your eyes,
a history of wounds.
And I, am I alive?
