Poem Pleading for Peace in Israel and Palestine

Elegy

Cinnyris osea, who called you 

when the day died?

Palestinian sunbird, 

bird of aspiration.

Bird annihilated sheen 

of blue-green feather-film

foraging in dry air 

and we hear you under 

these conditions, an intense

yearning for an end 

to all violence between peoples. 

Co-existence

and curve-billed sampling

of flowers which are music,

which are conversations,

which love all people

more or less the same.

Cinnyris osea, who 

called you out of the sun

when the day died?

Palestinian sunbird, call peace

over Israel and Palestine,

out of the stones. Quickly. Please.

John Kinsella

Note: the Palestinian sunbird (beautiful bird) is the national bird of Palestine (the declaration goes: because it flies across borders to link Palestinian territories). It became the national bird in 2015 due to the Israeli authorities trying to remove 'Palestine' from its naming.