Day 1,093

for Dr. Ali Tahrawi
“Am I a human being, or just scattered body pars awaiting an upcoming massacre?”

The fingers could find
a mass that had grown
under the skin. They
could palpate and tell
more or less its size, its
thickness. How soon
it would need to be
taken out. The feet
could walk for miles,
the whole length
of Gaza, run
when they needed to,
when an airstrike threatened,
when no shelter
was near. The eyes
took in everything: beauty
of the sun setting
over the sea, rising
over the orchards, lighting
the face of your child. Your beloved.
They took in ravaged fields.
trees stripped of leaves,
blood pooling on hospital floors,
maggots festering in wounds.
The liver, lungs, stomach, kidneys:
what remained for them
to take in? purify? excrete?
Like neighbors confused and scattered
in a village so filled with smoke
they could not find each other,
they waited, useless and confused,
for the final end to come,
the end of endings. Massacre. Blackout.