Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CCXXXVIII: "first bombless day"
hometown
once a place of human warmth
and safety
now a pile of stones and dust
where memories crumble
family
once a source of love and help
now whispered names
on trembling lips
with a question, "still alive?"
ruins and ruins ...
under Gaza's smeared sun
childhood memories
scatter like splintered shards
that can’t be fit together
ceasefire deal
once a sunbird singing nonstop
now a mute swan
battling the chilly winds
of hunger and despair
Author’s note: The Palestine sunbird pictured above (Cinnyris osea) is a small passerine bird of the sunbird family, Nectariniidae, and in 2015, the Palestinian Authority adopted the species as a national bird. Native to Eurasia but migrating south for the winter, the mute swan (Cygnus olor) is a rare winter visitor to Palestine.
FYI: The New Yorker, Oct. 18, 2025: What Comes After Starvation in Gaza?
This month, a United Nations study published in The Lancet reported that more than fifty-four thousand children are malnourished in Gaza.
For the severely malnourished, simply starting to eat normal meals again can cause sickness—even death.
Added: Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CCXXXIX: "first bombless night"
canopy of stars
on first bombless night
shards of thoughts
Added: Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CCXL: "death and life"
Death and Life
I stand closer to you
than I have been in two years
but there's no hug
no healing..., a mother eulogizes
as the sky roils with dark clouds
the first rays
of autumn sunset glow
the color
returning to the face
of a released hostage
