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I am the man and the earth
With each footfall, a new birth
feet and mud colliding
Uranus and Gaea intertwining
Pin-balling down the twisted path
Grateful for this honey comb scented, sun-ray bath
Grabbing at grape vines along the way
wind breeze and olive trees
I smell the seas
Nosediving into midday with ease
As I pass the trees that my father planted
I remember the day our ship had landed
That day I was eleven
A miracle they had said
They had taken down the final hydra head
And now we sleep once more on palestinian beds
Flash to the present
towards my neighbor’s place I run
A parcel of good news rolled up on my tongue
Oh this will be so much fun!
Today I am twenty-seven
Living between the seas in heaven
And today I learned that my sister is welcoming another
A Palestinian heart beating in a palestinian womb
she will become a mother
My neighbor lives atop a hill
The house right at the very tip of its bill
I knock thrice and little Noor answers the door
My neighbor’s youngest of four
How does that one song go? I think
“And her eyes, my little bird, you’d call them two cups filled with coffee.
your eyes are so black and oh so pretty”
She giggles at my attempt at the lullaby
“Shoo shoo, my butterfly”
I hear my neighbor chuckle
One long warm embrace later
We’re in the garden
The sun’s rays harden
His hand feels right in mine
He tells me about his week
How his art is beginning to seek
New waves of palestenian consciousness
“I can see the peak”
His lips in a grin, a study on playfulness
I plant a kiss on his cheek and watch it grow
A nursery of flowers blooming on his cratered skin
I let his words flow
The sun somehow is already about to set
I let my neighbor go
I am so happy
As I walk back towards my little life
I am so loved
By the coffee eyed people
I am so safe
My community is family
My family is community
I will always remember the day I told my neighbor my sister was pregnant