Location: Aida refugee camp entrance, Palestine Photograph: zehra imam

During summer 2023, a team of community health workers from Aida refugee camp in Bethlehem, Palestine wrote miracle poems during one of our sessions.

Their poems became the inspiration for countless other students in Gaza, Rohingya refugee camps, MIT, and Harvard to write their own poetry. We are indebted to them for their courage. These are their words.

Miracle Poems

Abdallah

I am the servant, deceived by every sin

and You are the All Forgiving.

I run from You, towards You,

and do we have anyone else other than You?

Who am I? I am a child,

or a child of diaspora, or a human

I am the lowly humbled servant to

My Lord and I seek Your pleasure.

If I asked my people about me, who will I be?

I am the son of Mohammed,

I am the son of a man

whose remembrance shakes gatherings.

I am the son of a miracle.

I am a miracle.

Aya

If I want to speak, I will not reach the end,

I am still in the beginning

I am free,

a woman in the sky who deserves to fly,

I am the key of closed doors

I am the peace of the world

I am a miracle.

Dua’a

I am Dua’a

I am not like others, and others not me

How I am nobody looks like me

I am like a sea, big and deep

I have an abundance of love and life

I am like light and stars to the people around me

I am like shining gold

I am a miracle.

Nida

I am the key of happiness,

the gate of hope, home for the oppressed

I am like a unicorn

I attract everyone who sees me

I am simple: purity and light

I am a miracle.

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Poetry of the Camps - Gaza