Day 1,132

Who did they leave
behind, this father
and his thirteen-year-old son
killed yesterday in Gaza City?
Was there a sister who looked
to her brother for comfort,
protection? A younger brother
who squabbled with him,
but counted on him
to teach him football,
long division? Was there
a mother who lost her son
and her husband in the same
moment? Who now
has to look around
and wonder how
she will manage
on her own? What
did they leave behind?
Memories of their home?
Shelters where they’d been
displaced? So many other times
they’d escaped, they’d witnessed
other killings, buried
others they’d loved?
Now it’s their time
to be grieved and buried.
Now the ones who remain
are waiting their turn.