Day 580

In memory of Yahya Sobaih,
Journalist killed by Israeli airstrike

Hours after your little daughter
came into this world,
you were taken from it,
assassinated from the air
with others who lay near you
on the hard ground — you
wearing the clothes you wore
in the picture you took of yourself
holding your child, your princess.
You greeted her in those clothes
and greeted your death in the same clothes.
You prayed to take joy in her living
and did for a few short hours.
Now your child will have
no father.  Now her birthday
will be your death day.  Now
when she celebrates the day
she was born, she will grieve it
as the day you died.  Now her mother
has been forced to hold
her deepest joy in one hand
and her deepest sorrow
in the other.  Tell me — which one
weighs more?