God does not speak only in Hebrew or English/by Mahnaz Badihian

God does not speak only in Hebrew or English

By Mahnaz Badihian

I wake up every morning, noticing

The war found its way to my bedroom

I woke up with a poem about Gaza

And its dead children in my head

I woke up with the picture of grieving mothers in my head

Grieving like when my mother lost her son in the old war!

I woke up and my hands were searching

For the lost limbs of children in the ruins

 

I woke up and my hands were making

Shelters for the families in Syria

I woke up, noticing the war was a blanket on my bed

 

No matter where you live

We are wounded by all this war happening every where

Our conscious is ill!

 

We all need peace upon us

We all thirst for fresh water from rivers,

That smells of basils, mint, and daffodils

Not blood, bombs and bones

 

All the sleeves of this world

Are not enough

To wipe the tears

From the faces of homeless kids

The eternal losers of wars and conflicts.

 

All the tornadoes are not enough

To blow away the cold sorrow on mothers’ chests

Who lost their children 

 

But the blood of all the kids who died in Gaza

And elsewhere, has a voice

The corpse of all the innocent people who died

Has courage for revenge,

Which is adding up, because

God does not speak only in Hebrew or English

 

Our hands may be short to reach those aching hearts

Our feet may be weak to reach those blood lands

But our voice is loud and strong

Our heart is ready to accept the tears from

The burning hearts of mothers

 

Let us pray to trees and rivers, not gods

To bring peace on earth

Let us pray to our children and keep them

 Safe under the blue sky

Let us change the old relations in this world

There is a different way of living than what we inherited

Let us pray to sun and moon

Not to the criminal nature of capitalism, kings and khaliphet

Let us break all the guns and swords, not each other’s heart

……………

featured image by m.Badihian

Acrylic on canvas