Running Orders ~ by Lena Khalaf Tuffaha

 

Running Orders 

~ by Lena Khalaf Tuffaha ~*

  They call us now,
  before they drop the bombs.
  The phone rings
  and someone who knows my first name
  calls and says in perfect Arabic
  “This is David.”
  And in my stupor of sonic booms and glass-shattering symphonies
  still smashing around in my head
  I think, Do I know any Davids in Gaza?
  They call us now to say
  Run.
  You have 58 seconds from the end of this message.
  Your house is next.
  They think of it as some kind of
  war-time courtesy.
  It doesn’t matter that
  there is nowhere to run to.
  It means nothing that the borders are closed
  and your papers are worthless
  and mark you only for a life sentence
  in this prison by the sea
  and the alleyways are narrow
  and there are more human lives
  packed one against the other
  more than any other place on earth
  Just run.
  We aren’t trying to kill you.
  It doesn’t matter that
  you can’t call us back to tell us
  the people we claim to want aren’t in your house
  that there’s no one here
  except you and your children
  who were cheering for Argentina
  sharing the last loaf of bread for this week
  counting candles left in case the power goes out.
  It doesn’t matter that you have children.
  You live in the wrong place
  and now is your chance to run
  to nowhere.
  It doesn’t matter
  that 58 seconds isn’t long enough
  to find your wedding album
  or your son’s favorite blanket
  or your daughter’s almost completed college application
  or your shoes
  or to gather everyone in the house.
  It doesn’t matter what you had planned.
  It doesn’t matter who you are.
  Prove you’re human.
  Prove you stand on two legs.
  Run.
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* Lena Khalaf Tuffaha, "Running Orders" from Water & Salt.  Copyright © 2017 by Lena Khalaf Tuffaha.