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Observations of the War in Gaza – 2 Poems [1]

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Date: 2023-11-15  

Observations of the War in Gaza – 2 Poems

Always Those Words

How often is heard

People asking "love us by"

Hating someone else!



**



Young Man, Cart and Donkey in Gaza

The young man drives the cart,

A flatbed on wheels,

Crammed to the edges with parents

Their children and others,

Legs dangle above the ground on the sides.



"On, on!" shouts the young man

Urging more speed from the donkey

Who sometimes trots faster,

But is never allowed to go too slow.



The refugees in their own land

Must be taken to today's safe spot

Through a path of rubbled offices and homes

And bodies broken below chunks of cement.



Explosions boom through the air,

Too many to say where they come from,

Vibrations rattle the cart

From the rumble of nearby tanks

Crunching through what was once civilization.



The donkey plods on, perhaps hearing

Or not hearing, the shouting young man

Who does not stop the cart

Until the allowed area designated by the Israelis

Is reached.



"Out, out," the young man cries

"Over there are wounded,

"I can take to the hospital."



The injured are loaded,

The donkey turns the cart

In a resolute cadence

Learned through repetition.



The young man's face is creased,

Eyes slit in determination

To get to the hospital

While there is time,

If the hospital is still standing.



The afternoon is going,

The trek is hard, but not distant,

The wounded reach their chance

For medical aid.



"Take them, take them," the young man calls

His voice hoarse, tired.



Emptied, the cart starts up again

Young man and donkey moving on,

There is still an hour of sunlight

To take more people

From certain death

To less danger.

Carl Scott Harker ©2023

__________________________________________

My latest book of poetry for children and adults is now available on Amazon, you can find it here: The HedgeHog and Other Selected Poems.

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