Day 936

Dr. Abu Safiya

Have you seen daylight?
Can you stand?  Is your body broken
like your heart after your son
was murdered,
laid in the ground,
when you walked
— standing tall — back
into the hospital
to treat your patients?  
What food are the guards
feeding you?  Have you lost
half your weight:  the weight
of your child? More?  The weight
of all the children you treated?
How bruised is your skin?
Do you speak in silence
to your lost son?
Have you been able
to touch the earth, ever,
in all these months?  Earth
where he lies?  Ravaged earth.
Do you know that flowers
are blooming
now?  Have you heard birdsong
through the impenetrable walls
of the prison?
Breezes through high
new leaves? The voice
of anyone you love?