by Brian Forehand
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Wounded people, including nine-year-old Tala Abu Ajwan, who died of the injuries she sustained as she skated near a park, are seen in the Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in Gaza City after an Israeli army attack on a residential building, Sept. 3, 2024. Credit: DAWOUD ABO ALKAS/ANADOLU/GETTY via CBS News. |
Didn't they see her there
gliding like an angel
pink wheels on her feet
wheels spinning so fast
in these head spinning times?
perfectly pink
like the walls of her bedroom
sweet wishes fulfilled
for a sweet young girl
here where wishes seem so fleeting
sweet dreams
carried away too swiftly
wings on their feet
resigned now to angels
fleeing en masse from this hellscape
pink wings replacing
pink wheels
no longer spinning
not fast enough to save her
from this frightful nightmare
pink wheels that roll no more
still and lifeless now as small feet they entomb
another angelic victim
no winged victory found
in this senseless, ceaseless war.
Brian Forehand is a creative polymath with too many interests and too little time. A late bloomer, he only recently embarked upon the cathartic practice of writing poetry. He lives in Washington, DC with his husband and their stripy cat.