<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div dir="auto" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div class="">Hadeel's Song</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Some words are hard to pronounce—</div><div class="">He-li-cop-ter is most vexing</div><div class=""> (A-pa-che or Co-bra is impossible)</div><div class="">But how it can stand still in the sky</div><div class="">I cannot understand—</div><div class=""> What holds it up</div><div class=""> What bears its weight</div><div class="">(Not clouds, I know)</div><div class="">It sends a flashing light—so smooth—</div><div class=""> It makes a deafening sound</div><div class=""> The house shakes</div><div class=""> (There are holes in the wall by my bed)</div><div class="">Flash-boom-light-sound—</div><div class="">And I have a hard time sleeping</div><div class="">(I felt ashamed when I wet my bed, but no one scolded me).</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Plane—a word much easier to say—</div><div class=""> It flies, tayyara,</div><div class="">My mother told me</div><div class="">A word must have a meaning</div><div class="">A name must have a meaning</div><div class="">Like mine,</div><div class=""> (Hadeel, the cooing of the dove)</div><div class="">Tanks, though, make a different sound</div><div class=""> They shudder when they shoot</div><div class="">Dabbabeh is a heavy word</div><div class=""> As heavy as its meaning.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Hadeel—the dove—she coos</div><div class=""> Tayyara—she flies</div><div class=""> Dabbabeh—she crawls</div><div class="">My Mother—she cries</div><div class=""> And cries and cries</div><div class="">My Brother—Rami—he lies</div><div class=""> DEAD</div><div class=""> And lies and lies, his eyes</div><div class=""> Closed.</div><div class="">Hit by a bullet in the head</div><div class=""> (bullet is a female lead—rasasa—she kills,</div><div class=""> my pencil is a male lead—rasas—he writes)</div><div class="">What’s the difference between a shell and a bullet?</div><div class="">(What’s five-hundred-milli-meter-</div><div class=""> Or eight-hundred-milli-meter-shell?)</div><div class="">Numbers are more vexing than words—</div><div class=""> I count to ten, then ten-and-one, ten-and-two</div><div class=""> But what happens after ten-and-ten,</div><div class="">How should I know?</div><div class="">Rami, my brother, was one</div><div class=""> Of hundreds killed—</div><div class="">They say thousands are hurt,</div><div class="">But which is more</div><div class=""> A hundred or a thousand (miyyeh or alf)</div><div class=""> I cannot tell—</div><div class=""> So big—so large—so huge—</div><div class="">Too many, too much.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Palestine—Falasteen—I’m used to,</div><div class=""> It’s not so hard to say,</div><div class="">It means we’re here—to stay—</div><div class=""> Even though the place is hard</div><div class=""> On kids and mothers too</div><div class="">For soldiers shoot</div><div class=""> And airplanes shell</div><div class=""> And tanks boom</div><div class=""> And tear gas makes you cry</div><div class="">(Though I don’t think it’s tear gas that makes my mother cry)</div><div class="">I’d better go and hug her</div><div class=""> Sit in her lap a while</div><div class=""> Touch her face (my fingers wet)</div><div class=""> Look in her eyes</div><div class="">Until I see myself again</div><div class=""> A girl within her mother’s sight.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">If words have meaning, Mama,</div><div class=""> What is Is-ra-el?</div><div class="">What does a word mean</div><div class=""> if it is mixed</div><div class=""> with another—</div><div class="">If all soldiers, tanks, planes and guns are</div><div class=""> Is-ra-el-i</div><div class=""> What are they doing here</div><div class="">In a place I know</div><div class=""> In a word I know—(Palestine)</div><div class=""> In a life that I no longer know?</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>- Hanan Ashwari</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Two days ago Dr. Hanan Ashwari’s application for a visa to visit the US was denied with no explanation. <a href="https://www.pri.org/stories/2019-05-14/veteran-palestinian-negotiator-hanan-ashrawi-denied-visa-us" class="">https://www.pri.org/stories/2019-05-14/veteran-palestinian-negotiator-hanan-ashrawi-denied-visa-us</a></div></div></body></html>