This poem is an update.
I wish it wasn’t.
The original was written in 2014.
I didn’t expect to write a sequel,
but here we are again.
One hour to leave
carrying what you can
knowing everything you love
will be destroyed
behind you,
you and 1.5 million others.
You and 1.5 million Others.
Who could do this?
People could not do it.
Soldiers.
Things in uniform obeying orders,
yes sir no sir-ing their way into oblivion.
They could do it.
They would do anything, if told to.
Humanity suspended.
Killing machines.
Destroyers of dreams
with their tanks and bulldozers,
burying them in the rubble with the bits.
With the bits of bodies,
the hands and the feet,
the breasts and the balls.
Things in uniform.
They could do it.
Revenge is never sweet.
But maybe if enough things die
they will stop their slaughter.
Maybe if enough things die
they will become extinct
like the dodo,
the stuff of legend
like the unicorn.
I hope so.
• Gaza residents told to move south as Israel prepares for expected ground assault