two poems from Palestine

Lights of red and lights of green,
military drone and F-16
who's to wonder what they mean;
these lights of red and lights of green.

"We were psychologically killed", she said,
'neath the lights of red and lights of green.
Stories unfathomable, unknowable, unseen,
under the lights of red and lights of green.

In this land,
the clouds
have beautiful shapes,
and jasmine permeates the dark.
Yet no one can ignore
the eternal silent roar
of the lights of red and lights of green.

No water tank
'pon constructed bank
only a sea of fluttering red/white/black & green,
still Rawabi's shell
can't escape the spell
of the lights of red and lights of green.

Crow, crow,
the 24-hr rooster,
whose body-clock was dismantled by curfew.
And broken too
is the earth, the rocks, the schedules, the garbage collection service, and the teacher's old recorder.
Steady, steady,
solid and solemnly shine
the lights of red and lights of green.

And so, today, we shape tomorrow's
youthful, hopeful glow,
kindling a new spectrum of promise
And "making the story better"...
'midst the whispering dulcit tones
and urging moans
that echo,
a hollow,
scream
from the lights of red and lights of green.

There wasn't time to cry
or say goodbye
only throbbing of drums
and stranger songs
then in a cloud of black smoke they were gone.

Sunset sucks the classrooms of light
that once shone full
now absent and bare
and empty stair,
empty stare,
no steps there
to bear the weightlessness of sincerity,
of love.

and the kicker is, I only spent 20 one-hour lessons with them...
that's less than a day.
Leish?

The dull pain
of sudden movements
produces an uncomfortable quiet
as the heart struggles to understand
how it should feel
if to kneel
when a hijab falls to the ground.

Once changing together
Now changing apart
apartly due to
apartness recognized
and there wasn't time to cry
the day tomorrow slipped by.