devorah major
for makmoud of gaza
the world slowed with heat from the blaze of the sun
as he loped toward the bird in the haze of the sun
though their caged music often made him cry in the sun
he strove to catch songbirds who would fly toward the sun
he felt a fluttering heart between palms warmed by the sun
listened with teardrops to the bird’s plaintive song of the sun
his thirteen-year-old chest exploded in the setting of his sun
a vision of feathers, wet and blackened-red, etched in the sun
can we know the soldier’s heart dried by the weight of the sun
who killed a boy chasing songbirds in the sway of the sun
