26 words for your 14 years
That’s all the paper said
You were Palestinian
You threw rocks
You are dead
26 words for your 14 years
Is the heart breaking trade-off you have made
14 years of occupation
14 years of deprivation
14 years of shattered dreams
26 words for your 14 years
Is what you get for being a non-person
1 short paragraph
1 cold sentence
1 nameless statement
I’m left with 26 questions for your 14 years
#1 What was your name?
#2 What did you look like?
#3 How bright were your eyes?
#4 How far did they dream?
#5 Were you a good student?
#6 Did you get to love?
#7 Did you get to be loved?
#8 What made you laugh?
#9 What made you cry?
#10 What music made you want to dance?
#11 Have you lost a relative?
#12 Did you bite your nails?
#13 Did you play soccer?
#14 Did you get along with your mother?
#15 Did you have brothers and sisters?
#16 Were you eldest, youngest, or in the middle?
#17 Did you have a secret hideout?
#18 What did you want to do, when you grew up?
#19 What was your favorite book?
#20 What animals did you see, when you looked at the clouds?
#21 When was your birthday?
#22 Did you lay awake in the nights?
#23 Did your daddy have time to play with you?
#24 Were you afraid of snakes?
#25 What’s your first memory?
#26 What did you feel with the gun to your face?