Lisa Suhair Majaj: What She Said

“They don’t have snow days in Palestine, they have military invasion days.” 
-International Solidarity Movement activists, describing Palestinian children’s lives under occupation.

.

She said, go play outside,

but don’t throw balls near the soldiers.

When a jeep goes past

keep your eyes on the ground.

And don’t pick up stones,

not even for hopscotch.

She said, don’t bother the neighbors,

their son was arrested last night.

Hang the laundry, make the beds,

scrub that graffiti off the walls

before the soldiers see it. She said,

there’s no money; if your shoes

are too tight, cut the ends off.

This is what we have to eat,

we won’t eat again until tomorrow.

No, we don’t have any oranges,

they chopped down the orange trees.

I don’t know why. Maybe the trees

were threatening the tanks. She said,

there’s no water; we’ll take baths next week,

insha’allah. Meanwhile, don’t flush the toilet.

And don’t go near the olive grove,

there are settlers there with guns.

No, I don’t know how we’ll harvest

the olives, and I don’t know what we’ll do

if they bulldoze the trees. God will provide

if He wishes, or UNRWA, but certainly not

the Americans. She said, you can’t

go out today, there’s a curfew.

Keep away from those windows,

can’t you hear the shooting?

No, I don’t know why they bulldozed

the neighbor’s house. And if God knows,

He’s not telling. She said,

there’s no school today,

it’s a military invasion.

No, I don’t know when it will be over,

or if it will be over. She said,

don’t think about the tanks

or the planes or the guns

or what happened to the neighbors.

Come into the hallway,

it’s safer here. And turn off that news,

you’re too young for this. Listen,

I’ll tell you a story so you won’t be scared.

Kan ya ma kan–there was or there was not–

a land called Falastine

where children played in the streets

and in the fields and in the orchards

and picked apricots and almonds

and wove jasmine garlands for their mothers.

And when planes flew overhead

they shouted happily and waved.

Kan ya ma kan. Keep your head down.

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Copyright 2024 Lisa Suhair Majaj. Originally published in Geographies of Light by Lisa Suhair Majaj (Del Sol Press 2009)

Lisa Suhair Majaj is a Palestinian-American writer who lives in Nicosia, Cyprus.