Sunday, October 15, 2023

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.

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