POETRY:  Humanity is Weeping

by Fatima Rhodes

Humanity is Weeping
Grown men are weeping
Doctors are weeping
Mothers are weeping
Fathers are weeping
Pope Francis is weeping
Humanity is weeping
Ramadan greetings
Families are grieving
No one is celebrating
No Eid, no feasting
Parents are mourning
Children are dying
Thousands are marching
No one is listening
Their voices are drowning
Under the missiles flying
And bombs not discriminating
Whole families expiring
A massacre is happening
World leaders are negotiating
And the US is supplying
More weapons while condemning
The violence, the slaughtering
In Gaza which is burning
Neighborhoods are turning
Into rubble, just vanishing
Children are dying
World leaders not caring
The rest of us are pretending
This is not happening
While Israel is bombing
UN schools sheltering
The young and the aging
And Israeli soldiers targeting
Anything that’s moving
From journalists reporting
To children on a beach playing
For them, no place for hiding
Or civilians trying
To reach the injured begging
For mercy they are crying
Not even ambulances racing
Are safe nor the hospitals treating
The wounded and the dying
From the missiles falling
Indiscriminately killing
Anything that’s moving
And the world is watching
And the politicians are negotiating
The ceasefire, they’re saying
While Palestinians are dying
Still courageous resisting
For human rights they’re fighting
For dignity they’re asking
NO to the ceasefire, YES to ending
The siege, the occupying
Their flags proudly flying
Free Gaza they’re chanting
Free Gaza they’re chanting
Free Gaza they’re chanting