.                  Rafah


         There is no water

       to replace our tears,

        so we dare not cry.

         Skies of dust and

         smoke make rain

        clouds superfluous.

       No call to prayer no

        angelus knells, no

       minarets nor belfries.

        There is no silence

        between the noise,

     our sunlight is diluted.

    There are no voices of

     children no fragrance

   of roses or dins of bees.

   There are leaflets falling

  with foreboding messages

     of our impending doom.