Day 758

Ceasefire III, Day 24

Will the soil be restored?  Thousands
of olive trees blasted, bombed: no groves
remaining, only a single tree
surviving here and there.  Will the earth
yield its abundance
again?  Its lemons? Strawberries?
Will the plants
that had thrived for centuries
return, blossom, bear?  Will you walk
again past rows of tomatoes,
picking them, tasting their sweetness?
You look out on acres of dust.
You remember your children
racing each other to the orange trees.
You remember their laughter, their
squabbles. Their small bare feet.
They will not be restored. 
Though seasons
turn, though sunlight
awaken what life
remains deep under the dirt, 
that laughter
will not come again, nor
their bright faces streaked with juice
from fresh-fallen fruit.