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| Gaza Relief Worker, 2021 |
O foolish one, so bewilderingly bold,
Chasing peace into war zones,
Bandaging broken bodies and
Awaiting the end of all suffering:
What can you see in all this,
That inspires your smile, your hope,
That satisfies your hunger for justice,
That joins your song to other cosmic hymns?
Maybe it's the madness of it all--
The battered holiness of fragile hearts
Hoping to survive just another day,
Living to say just another prayer.
Maybe it's the unspeakable love--
Of the grieving grandmother for the dying child,
Or the defiant teacher for the promising student,
Or the anointed nurse for the martyr soon to perish.
Your God is nowhere to be found in war,
Yet everywhere now--broken, bloodied and beckoning.
We would follow you now, in Gaza's streets,
Meeting grace in wretched catastrophe.
This our creed is written in Gaza's rubble;
And the only sacrament that really matters now
Is the fool's scarred hand, the lover's incarnation,
Reaching through so much hatred to touch another.
A Poem for Gaza,
And the Remarkable Medics and Emergency Workers
Caring for Victims of the Bombing and Occupation There
5/18/21
DGJ
