Day 1,062

Khan Younis; from a photograph

The boy and his grandfather
are gathering clay, broken rebar,
pieces of metal and brick
from homes that have been
destroyed, to build
a house to replace the one
that is nothing but wreckage.
No cement; they hold things
together with what they can find:
nylon netting against the rain.
What has lain in waste, what
has been nothing but rubble,
will soon be wall, roof, floor.
Will shelter them. Keep them warm
or cool, according to the season.
What they can salvage, they use.
What they can do
with their hands, they do.
Soon they will have
a place to sleep, eat, live. Soon, beside
what the Occupier has blown apart,
a home will rise from the dust.
A window. A door. A place
that is theirs.