A city where it’s impossible to hide from death / The enemy will hear your steps, even your breath.

Occupation, don’t be proud, I am Palestine / Since 1948 you have punished me.

For a moment / I feel like the whole universe is mine.

Scarred / I never chose / a fate etched in the stones of Al-Shati / or a history written in bullets / bombs and blockades.

STILL STUCK / In the SAME WHEEL / Spinning me ENDLESSLY.

If you must die / then I must live / to begin where you left off, although / you have never truly ceased.

They say the echoes of bombing have faded / then why does their sound linger / in every voice / in every breath.

My vibrant self drifts away / a toy boat drowned / in the river’s current.

Since the 7th of October / I put my life, even my crying, on hold / I was living but not alive. Was it real?

I close my eyes / feel my heartbeat / and hear yours instead.

Yes, Yara / you will survive / but what is survival?

Omar turned his head up to the sky / his heart aching / for his murdered brother’s family.