Tears blur my eyes
but your smile is clear
like a field of wheat.
There is no doubt.

My heart recalls how you’d beam
with joy, and hug and caress Mom

whenever she made maftool for you.
And how, when you squabbled

over an extra piece of meat,
your pearly smile and the warmth
in your eyes glowed like a sun
on her face, and then on all our faces.

Tears blur my eyes,
my heart leaps up.
My body shudders,
my tongue prays

for your survival. Hope
tricks me into denying
your death. Yet, among
the skulls of the many,

in the suffocating
rubble and stench
of death, agonizingly,
I recognize your smile.

Editor’s note: According to a report circulating on social media, a family was able to recognize the remains of their 19-year-old son, Mahmoud Abd Rabbo, from the skull’s teeth.