Song Of Palestine – Paradise

The child said:
        Will the rubble
        be my earth;
        th’wreckage my gravestone?

Death said to her:
      If they can’t find you,
      limbs protruding –
      yes.

The child said:
        Are my feet that danced
        so grey as these,
        my fellow dead?

Death said to her:
      As grey; as still;
      as lifeless –
      yes, my child.

The child said:
        Was it The Accursed
        who sent you?
        Was it God?

Death said to her:
      No-one
      but humankind
      can summon me.

The child said:
        Will fair Jannah
        take me in
        when it’s so full?

Death said to her:
      Ev’ry child
      that I carry
      has a place.

The child said:
        And will you, then,
        carry others
        after me?

Death sighed, surrendering the child to Paradise.

Image credit – Baldwin