Ark

“ I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth.”

Genesis 6:13

Find something you love:

A girl or a boy,

A wife or grandma,

Your favourite doll.

Something beautiful, useful,

Venerable, vulnerable:

That can burst

Into flames

In a heartbeat

In the raining fire

Take them to the boat

Bring everything

You can fit

Into your little bag

Be ready to sail

At the drop of a hat

In a New York minute

Escape that scorched earth

Still ringing with

The tumult of killing

And stench of race-hate

A never ending

Un-winnable war

Where victor and vanquished

Are equally shamed

In their various ways

(Though the death-toll

Tells a different score)

And start again,

In God’s grace.

All God wants

Is for you

To start again,¹

To be cleansed.

Go somewhere safe

(Hopefully warm,

A gentle reminder of home)

Far from the

Maddening bombs

Remember

Your loved ones

What you have lost

Though you may mend

The scars will remain

Listen, can you hear

The god of all things

Sing:

Flee the fiery flood,

Begin again, again, again.

Footnotes #

1. With great regret, currently the only future I can see for ordinary Palestinians seems to be a coordinated humanitarian mass migration – as was the case for Jews (and others) in Nazi Germany.
   The fact that many extremist Israelis and Americans would like to see such a migration, rather than cease their policy of apartheid and ethnic cleansing, is not the point when thinking of this from the perspective of civilians.
   Obviously any Palestinians that do not wish to leave their homeland should be supported by us and international law and organisations, however the prospects for all Palestinians continue to look bleak when you have two nuclear superpowers (the USA and Israel) intent on alternating between slow motion ‘mowing the lawn’ and quick speed Genocide of a whole people that have no powerful State actors supporting them (as has been the case for many decades).
   Many of the leaders in Israel, Palestinian occupied territories and the USA are extremists that see the Palestinian’s suffering as merely tools for their political ends (that is to say they are terrorists). We might not be able to stop them but we should not avoid calling them out for what the are whilst trying to save men, women and children being murdered like animals in their droves.
   It is really quite simple, if you think killing over 40,000 women and children is justified in this case then you are the terrorist. ↩

From Canto for David, ten poems about Israel and Palestine. The introduction, dedications and suggested reading are on the Canto’s page.