Breathe

Breathe easy child

We have left the camps

Found breadth for full lungs

Extend your rusted joints

There is space for broad shoulders and uncurled fingers

Fear not smashing them into concrete when dancing

The air out here is much softer on our hopeful bones

Remind your eyes of the way

sun light splinters into rays at the edges of clouds

and how they form golden pyramids over the mountains of Nablus

Remind yourself of how far you used to let your eyes wander

Before asking them to return with images of lemon trees

In there it was not very far.

There were no trees for eyes to wander to.

Windows only looked into windows

In there caged eyes could only gaze into eyes gazing back

days go by where you think you are looking in a mirror

before it always shatters

pieces of hope cut deeper then knives

The lucky ones stare out at brick walls, you think

For the rest, the soul is a public matter.

Now brush off the dust and shadow

make room for the light to dance on your skin and clothes

The skies are open again

let the breeze tickle your spine and shiver the worries  away

they are slick on your still smooth skin and slip off easy

I hope

relax your tense mind,

let the abrupt darkness of bullet holes blend into the crisp grayness of  the walls

and let that grayness fade into grayer memories

make space for the color of pomegranates

Filter out the silence with comforting city street noise

Let your lingering thoughts ride that river out of your head

Speak light with the sun on your tongue

Cough the coffin dust from your lungs

You do not have to wear your father’s ghost out here

The sleeves fall awkward over your short arm

And it hangs low over your voice

Which should be in the register of dreams

not the heavy manhood you are chained to

I know that you have seen death reflecting

through the other end of a gun barrel

but have you seen how much brighter

your eyes pierce through the daylight

So learn to breathe easy child

You are still young like the sun at dawn

Do not yield to the night just yet

- Samee

Samee is an intern at TYO Nablus and a participant in the Kalimatna Initiative.