Poetry, www.aljazeerah.info
Human Price of the Israeli Occupation of Palestine
Israeli daily aggression on the Palestinian people
Mission and meaning of Al-Jazeerah
Cities, localities, and tourist attractions
The List
by Rebekah Lovat Fraser
12/17/03
For victims of war
and occupation
These things
I used to love to do
Put away hats
Find a lost shoe
Piles of clothing
Stacks of dumb stuff
Knick-knacks
Dust catchers
Small bags filled with fluff
Items I cherished
Would not throw away
Sure that eventually I'd see the day
I would need them again
And there they would be
Cobwebbed and dusty
Waiting for me.
Important to catalog
These bits of our lives
Snippets and tidbits
Of husbands and wives
Mud covered children
Tracking in mess
Making me clean
Once again for our guests.
Bulldozers came
My home disappeared
A lifetime of memories
Gone with the schmear
Of the soldier's wet self
Left behind in the rubble
Right where he laid me
His face, itchy stubble.
These things
I used to love to do
Bake fragrant cookies
Cook savory stew
The flesh of a lamb
With best olive oil
Listen carefully
It can simmer
But don't let it boil
In the time when the water
Flowed from the tap
Before they decided
To make a new map.
These things
I once believed my own
Children, husband
Native soil
Now crusty and dusty
Blood mixed with ground bones
Of my children, my husband
Who never left home.
Many years of evil, hatred, deceit
Gave us strength, to clutch hope, hold back defeat
For this place where my ancestors
Once laid their heads
Is the place where we'll stay until we are dead.
They can rape us, beat us, and say we're not free
But we'll go down protecting our last olive tree.
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| Earth, a planet hungry for peace |
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| The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers (Ran Cohen, pmc, 5/24/03). |
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| The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers in the West Bank, like a Python. (Alquds,10/25/03). |
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