Observations of the War in Gaza – 2 Poems
Always Those Words
How often is heard
People asking "love us by"
Hating someone else!
**
Young Man, Cart and Donkey in Gaza
The young man drives the cart,
A flatbed on wheels,
Crammed to the edges with parents
Their children and others,
Legs dangle above the ground on the sides.
"On, on!" shouts the young man
Urging more speed from the donkey
Who sometimes trots faster,
But is never allowed to go too slow.
The refugees in their own land
Must be taken to today's safe spot
Through a path of rubbled offices and homes
And bodies broken below chunks of cement.
Explosions boom through the air,
Too many to say where they come from,
Vibrations rattle the cart
From the rumble of nearby tanks
Crunching through what was once civilization.
The donkey plods on, perhaps hearing
Or not hearing, the shouting young man
Who does not stop the cart
Until the allowed area designated by the Israelis
Is reached.
"Out, out," the young man cries
"Over there are wounded,
"I can take to the hospital."
The injured are loaded,
The donkey turns the cart
In a resolute cadence
Learned through repetition.
The young man's face is creased,
Eyes slit in determination
To get to the hospital
While there is time,
If the hospital is still standing.
The afternoon is going,
The trek is hard, but not distant,
The wounded reach their chance
For medical aid.
"Take them, take them," the young man calls
His voice hoarse, tired.
Emptied, the cart starts up again
Young man and donkey moving on,
There is still an hour of sunlight
To take more people
From certain death
To less danger.
Carl Scott Harker ©2023
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My latest book of poetry for children and adults is now available on Amazon, you can find it here: The HedgeHog and Other Selected Poems.