Sans solace

Sans solace
From the bombed building rubble
They pull a one-year-old child
A beautiful girl
The men digging erupt in
Shouts of joy
As they place her in the arms
Of her sobbing father
The commentator explains
Matter of factly
The father has lost
Two other children
His wife
Two cousins
An aunt and uncle
To the war
And then only then
Did the voice say
This little girl didn’t make it
Her wounds
Were too much for her
Her wounds
Were too much for me
I see you Palestinian man
I feel you
Nephew
Cousin
Husband
And yes father
Her wounds were too much for me
I weep with you Brother

It was while I was sitting in my car with a friend outside the Tennessee Department of Transportation, waiting for TDOT to open so we could get our TN gold star IDs, that I saw the scene above through the front windshield. Later that same day I heard the news story of the Palestinian man recorded here.