Imagine yourself old enough
to have survived Operations
Cast Lead and Protective Edge.
Imagine a fellow refugee
videoing flyers drifting
down from a blue sky,
then focusing on you
as you pick up a leaflet
at once a plea for news
about pictured hostages
and an implicit warning
that soon your current shelter
will be demolished by bombs.
Imagine knowing the world
can see what’s happening.
Imagine knowing the world
keeps failing to react.
Imagine your dulled terror,
your bewildered loyalty,
your desperate rage.
Imagine your aimless trek.
Imagine your imagining
there’s somewhere to go
where the flyers
won’t drift down again
to tell you to keep moving.
Imagine the leaflet
as one of the keepsakes
that will give purpose
to your children’s lives.
