A poem for those helplessly watching the helpless
There isn't much to do
Except stare at the sky
At parrots threading circles
In soft cotton
At petals blooming in unlikely places
Or moss nodding through
Cracks in ruins
It is also likely that an insect
Or reptile may lay eggs
In an unopened cupboard
And leave cracked open shells for us to see
To drag a finger against their jagged edges
Tenderly
"There was life here once"
Murmuring to ourself
This anthem, this song
Amidst the ordinary
But also
Amidst fire and rubble
This *azaan amidst screeching bombs
We stand in the centre and watch those at the edges pushed off
Into the unknown
The margins of this world burst open
They spill out battered people
There's not much to do
Except look
Keep looking and tell them-
Those who stretch their arms to you helplessly
"We see your life
We witness your pain
We softly fold your stiff finger
Raised in **shahadah
In our dreams
We smoothen shrouds on your
Bodies
You do not go unremembered
You do not go unmourned
Your life is documented
We bear witness to your death
We are here holding a cup of water to your parched lips
We hear your last words to
Your beloveds
We turn our ears to your open mouths
We open the door to our hearts wide open
Please enter
People of pain
You are not going un-held"
(We stand here and tell the world
This happened)
This we can do
When I couldn't do anything
This is what I did
Please do it with me.
*Muslim call for prayer
**Declaration of faith for Muslims
Every line is poetry🩷
Wish we could do something