Sons of California and Palestine

Rest in Love Yazan and Ryan

I understand I can not write the hate out of this world by loving you, because one day you will ask me, “What did you do when the world was burning?”

40 Weeks Old

Dear Myles,

Yazan Al Kfarna’s body 
left him 
before his soul was ready 
death by starvation 
he was 10 
that week
you turned 
9 months

Ryan Gainer 
a future engineer 
brained with wires
crossed differently than you and mine  
but the officer’s mind
took 8.5 seconds   
from car to scene 
and turned 
gardening tool to weapon 
Ryan was 15 
and died too 
on my birthday

miles apart and strangers
their fathers, mothers,
and grandparents 
suffer the same fate 
to wake without their sons
from nightmares 
reminding them 
there’s nothing 
they could do 
to protect them

grace, privilege, mercy – a trinity 
to wake up 
with my own 

sons of fathers, 
from California to Palestine 
and miles in between 
remind me
I cannot protect you
 
you could be them 
they could be you

how lucky I am 
to have you

Love, 
Daddy 

This poem was inspired by my friend, Noha Beshir’s poem To be a Gazan during Ramadan.

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