I have read that the Israelis
Are harvesting body parts
From the Palestinians they have killed
And selling them for a great deal of money.
I have read that the Israelis
Are deploying state-of-the-art weapons
That completely incinerate victims
Turning them entirely to ash.
I read about a Palestinian man
Who was looking for his wife with a sifter
Hoping to find something, any small thing,
That might remain of her.
I have been sifting through my brain
Trying to find something, any small thing,
To say about these horrors beyond horror,
These acts so heinous that we are struck dumb.
I think of the boy I was,
Filled with faith in the fundamental goodness of people,
Filled with belief that humanity
Was the moral pinnacle of God’s creation.
Our children do not talk with their children
About harvesting organs from dead bodies,
About incinerating people in a flash,
But the children hear things.
So tell me please what we say to them.
I do not know.
Tell me please how to explain this profound evil.
I do not know.
I picture the Palestinian man with his sieve
Hoping to find a locket, a wedding ring
Hoping to find a hair comb, a picture frame,
But there is nothing left to find.
