Five years have passed since Israel’s brutal assault on Gaza codenamed Cast Lead and not much has changed. Still Israel’s bombs continue to fall even now as I make this blog entry and its siege and blockade continue to strangle Gaza’s 1.8 million trapped inhabitants. I wrote this poem four years ago. Sadly it still is relevant today.
Where Time Stood Still
Don’t tell us a year has passed…
We don’t measure our lives by a calendar
Time has stood still for us so long ago
Punctuated only by loss and grief
And in between moments of quiet and reprieve
We don’t count on Christmas, nor Eid for cheer
We don’t fool ourselves with “happy new year”
No occasion is ever taken for granted
When it comes to tomorrow,
There are no certainties
Our yesterday is our today
Time is frozen here
And one calendar year
Cannot contain our lives
Our collective misery
Our yearning for humanity
So don’t tell us a year has passed
Our clock stopped ticking when justice collapsed
Eclipsed by decades of repression
Hush… don’t speak of time
We have endured the absence of time
We don’t measure our lives by days like you,
We measure our lives by the number of embraces
Our worth by a lover’s heartbeat
Our existence by our persistence
So, don’t tell us a year has passed…
Samah Sabawi. December 2009 Melbourne Australia. Written on the 1st anniversary of operation Cast Lead
Tales of a City by the Sea 