A Grief of Palestinian Children
By Dr. Bani Hani

My fellow creatures…!

My fellow children…!

Can't you hear…?

Can't you see…?

Can't you feel…?

Don't you have fellow feelings…?

Don't you have some tears…?

For heaven sake…I cry out loud…!

And sadly weep…!

I'm full of agony…bemoan my fate…!

With rage I shriek…!

I groan under pain…!

With torture and scream…!

I call upon all the dears…!

With torment and grieve…!

No one listens…no one looks…!

And no one heeds…!

On earth…in heaven…in all the realms…!

I make a de profundis screech…!

Bend down…moan…and kneel…!

I'm thirsty…and hungry…!

And crawl for relief...!

I crouch to my mom…!

With no hands…and no feet…!

I found her disconsolate…!

Somber and bereaved…!

I cry…and innocently ask…!

With pain…with frown…!

And with grief …!

Am I a human…or Am I a beast…?

* * * * * *

Little sisters…and brothers…!

Wounded by the generals…!

Humbly ask…and in fear!

What are we…to thee…?

A flock of birds…or geese…?

Mice…goats…or sheep…?

Smashed and prepared…for a luau…!

Boiled and cooked…for a treat…!

May be…more humanly…!

We are a herd of deer…!

Slaughtered…torn and seared…!

Massacred…seasoned…and grilled…!

For that holy feast…!

To abate the generals anger…!

But their wrath…can't be cooled…!

Their madness won't be appeased…!

They said it many times…

Carnage will never ease…!

We shall kill…we shall burn…!

We shall murder as we please…!

* * * * * * *

Is that the promised peace…?

Or is it another brilliant Israeli feat…?

I don't know…for/

They find my flesh palatable…

At my bones they gnaw…

And on my blood they feed…!

Our question hasn't been answered…!

Are we human…or are we beasts…?

If you say we are human…I would have a doubt…!

For…the sky went drought…!

And our lives have ceased…!

* * * * * *

Those of you…whom I called…

O the inhabitants of the globe…

Look at me…touch me…sense me…!

Haven't you seen my bloods…?

Haven't you felt my soul…?

Haven't you seen my flesh…?

Sliced…ground and burned…

Haven't you seen my bones…?

Crushed and ground in mills

Haven't you smelled my flesh…?

Grilled and fried in hell…

Haven't you heard me gasping…?

Inhaling dust…and smoke…

Haven't you seen me starving…?

Eating grass…and soil…

Haven't you sense me suffering…?

Haven't you seen my tears...?

Boots on my face tread…eking my living in siege…

* * * * * *

Many rainy nights…!

Sleeping cold on mud…!

Many sweltering days…!

Languished under the sun…!

Many years of agonies…!

Many years of disgust…!

With anguish and sufferings…!

And showered with insults…!

* * * * * *

Where are the human rights…?

My future doesn't bode bright…!

With blood and stains around…!

Graves and frightening nights…!

My life is a misery…

Grim and a great plight…!

* * * * * *

You the Israelis…

Christ had asked before…

What shall it profit a man…?

If he shall gain the whole world…

And lose his own soul…???

But your hearts…became hardened…

As steel…rocks and stones…

I insist on my question…are we human…or are beasts…?

I finally found out…

Man kind to you is nothing…

But herds of different beasts…!!!

Dr. Bani Hani
Amman-Jordan
5/1/2009