In the Name of God

by Livnat Shaubi, 23, Sderot

Ordinariness
An explosion's echo.
Smokey mushrooms in the sky.
The smell of burning.
A shout.
An alarm.
People gathering in a mass.
Women crying.
Babies whining.
The storm after the silence.
A vision of the end of days.
Broken shouts of mothers at their children.
Tears of friends falling on fresh graves.
Fifteen seconds of life.
The wail of an ambulance cutting through the crowd
Freezes, threatens, and silences all.
Eyes suffering from what they see.
A heart shot through.
A child hurt.
"Color Red!" the siren shouts, the color of blood.
A direct hit,
Hurts, chokes
the heart.
Prayer,
A shout,
A warning,
Eyes tearing
Fifteen seconds
Tzeva adom! Color red!
Fifteen seconds to count backwards
To life or death.

From Monkey in the Middle:

The people of Sderot have endured 8 years of daily attacks from Gaza. The return of Gaza to the Palestinians didn't stop the attacks (as they were promised by President Bush and the UN), they escalated their attacks. Even during this so-called truce, the rockets fall daily.

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