Ahmed Miqdad is a Palestinian poet and teacher from Gaza City. He has published three books of poetry and a novel.
Take my hand
And help me get out from under the debris.
Don't forget my wife and children, they're all under the concrete.
I heard their shouts while their bones were smashing.
Catch my rapidly beating heart
Squeeze it between your hands to make it stop fluttering.
Let me die bravely
Because the loss eradicated my soul.
Wash my unclean face and hide it.
The scorching ashes burnt my skin
And deformed my beautiful Palestinian features.
Cover my bare body
And bury me inside a tomb.
Then write on my shrine:
An innocent woman killed
And the world witnessed my murder.
Collect my dismembered parts in a black bag
And put it in front of my mother's feet.
Tell her to wash my blood with her running hot tears
To erase the shame of humanity.
