Lebanon’s Passage Lit by Israeli Hellfire

By Genevieve Cora Fraser


The charred remains
Of a child’s skull
Propped on mutilated
Shoulders broken
Splayed by Israeli
Missiles withers
While white
Phosphorous
Glows bright
In the night
Ignites a family
Longing for life
Into mutilation
And death
Not far a fig’s
Molten gold ripe
Belly drops on a table
Top coffee dregs
In blue cups intact
Despite the attack
The dead speak
Of martyrdom
Life blown
From kingdom
Come to the valley
Of visible death
Against the ruins
Of antiquity
Proud marble pillars
Erect a lion’s mouth
Gasps an icon
Surveys once again
Lebanon’s rubble
Rebels refuse defeat
The swift retreat
Of the living
To a mountain
Pass hidden
From the smoke
Earthen billows blown
From the depth of hatred
Prevail against the winds
Of change hoards
Through centuries ripple
Through millennia enforce
Ruling Empires come and go
Among the ancient ruins
Arrogant vibrating with rage
Filled with false pride
They come to slay
To win the day
But have never captured
The soul of Lebanon