A child's cry in Gaza

She was crying, "Baba... Baba,"

Her eyes searching, desperate and wide,

In case, somewhere, she found her baba

To give her the comfort she was denied.

In a hospital's cold, sick bed,

Her tiny body bruised and torn,

A flower barely bloomed.

She was only two,

Too young to understand

Why her legs and hands wouldn't move

The way a child's do.

She was crying, "Baba..."

With trauma clearly visible on her face,

Seeking safety and love in her father's arms,

In this scary, unknown place.

She was crying, "Baba..."

Her baba, to kiss all her pain away,

To calm her trembling heart

And keep the fear at bay.

She was too little, too young

To grasp the cruelty of men,

Who stole her childhood, her laughter,

Along with her baba, forever.

So let her cry,

Let her voice demand a little kindness,

A little love in this filthy world.

Let her cry, "Baba..."

For she was only two years old.