After the siege

Appeared in Clarion #3,  Feral Angels Press, February 2025

After the siege

In the red setting sun, 

two women and two men

stroll leisurely on a sandy beach, 

chewing the time away,

two girls, a boy, a dog and a ball

bounce, scamper, frolic 

to a rolling vibration, a roar 

carried over by a swelling 

sea breeze and anticipation

of a vacation far away, 

or as close by as Jericho 

and the Sea of Galilee, 

by road to Beirut or Damascus,

by boat to Athens or Cyprus,

by flight to a distant destination, 

where they always wanted to go,

it is a matter of choice

and each weekend 

there is a choice 

in the husky voice 

of the sea of Gaza,

and the free swallows 

of fantasy may diverge or swarm

as fit as they care to see,

because the besieged

borders of Gaza 

are now as open as the sea

and like all other peoples

Gazans love life 

and they love to be free.