Numbers

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GAZA

Numbers

 

Numbers are not people

They do not bleed

They do not suffer

Their bones are not brittle

Their bodies do not break

 

Numbers are not people

But like words they tell a story

They tell ten thousand stories in Gaza

There are stories about schools

There are stories about teachers

There are stories about students

There are stories about children

Too young to go to school

 

There are stories about doctors

There are stories about nurses

There are stories about patients

There are stories about loss

 

Picture in your mind ten thousand stories

Hear them in your own voice

Feel them in your heart

Every one of them a tragedy

Every one a mother’s tears

Every one a father’s rage

 

Every one of them a vow of vengeance

Every one a life that won’t be lived

A memory that never fades

A trail of tears forever

 

No numbers are not people

But people become numbers in war

This war must come to an end

For humanity to be restored