Agouim
why did you send out your men
with silver tongues
and silver platters
and jewels for lips
and jewels for gifts
for my grandfather
Abakar.
Agouim
why did you allow your merchants
to weep into the Dra’a
until the valley
swamped into a river
with sailboats and steamships
and three buses of your Jews
and my grandfather
Abakar.
Agouim
why did you hear Sheikh Aiytu Shalash
whispering, whispering by the buses
and still stay in your clay houses
while Sheikh Aiytu Shalash
wrenched open three honey dates
and two figs
and one green olive from 1961
for my grandfather
Abakar.
Agouim
why did you
sleep that night
and all the rest after it
and never give even one
of your red clay houses
for the boat
for my grandfather
Abakar.
Agouim why did your
cold and bitter wind
not bite again
for sixty years
at least.
His cheek
stayed warm after that,
my grandfather Abakar.
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