Asmaa, Deir Al-Balah
Session One: Miracle Poems
Asmaa - Miracle Poem
Like a butterfly flying, escaping the shadows of death
Towards the suns of freedom
Spider webs surround me
So I ascend with my delicate wings
To my last breath
Trying to reach
The light at the end of the tunnel
I am Asmaa, the miracle of the sky
A miracle for me and my people
And my city that captures my soul
Every day with its misfortune
I am a miracle.
Session Two: Colorism
I saw a colorful world
A more beautiful world
In it is black and white
Red and yellow and brown
Another world
Luxurious
Everyone holds each other's hand
No difference between a white angel
Or a black angel
Or what's in between
The beauty of character brought their hearts together
Nothing prevails except what they have
I saw a blooming world
A world with all colors
No one dominates another
All are equal
They share
The same land
The same bright sun
The round moon
The blood in the veins
The heartbeats
The pains and aches
Nothing separates them
No color or race
Like one body
Session Three: Homeland
Homeland
My homeland was never like other homelands
One day
It was a rebel
Dreamer
But it was never
A safe haven for me
It was hungry
Homeless
A land for tents
I am in it like a bird that did not find
A hug to build a nest
The land of my country
Fertile
Drenched in blood
Martyr after martyr is thrown upon it
Mothers are widows
Fathers are crying
Families from the records
Deleted
Children are torn apart
Shrouds are hanging
Fragments of bodies
People are burned
Corpses mixed with other corpses
Gathered with a piece of cloth
Its name or identity is unknown
How can I see my homeland
Full of love
How are homelands built
How can my homeland live
Without bloodshed
Without a racist wall
And barbed wire barriers
I want to walk it
In one piece
From the river to the sea
Session Four: Love Letters to Palestine
Love Letter to Palestine
Dear homeland
I speak to you from the spirit of my displacement, about my longing for every corner of the city I love, and my many attempts to return after the occupation prevented it, the obstacles it placed, and the threats of no return.
Isn't it unfair that I live in a country other than your embrace?
However, my faith and the hope that you planted in me since childhood remain as long as olives and thyme remain.
I have repeatedly tried to rearrange my papers to comprehend the woes of war that accompany you, my homeland, and I could not. My only consolation is that the things that are happening now are not by my will, and my options have become limited like any other person who will meet his death in this war, but your love for my homeland is engraved and will remain immortal.
Your love, Asmaa
Session Five: Freedom-Huriye-Azadi
A hail of joyful, luminous cars
Trucks and wagons loaded with joy set off to return
Each to its place
You hear the ululations
The ululations of return and salvation
The ululations of hope and salvation
You see the flags everywhere
Raised and flying
You see hope in the eyes burning
On the first day of freedom
I taste the meaning of joy