The children know

The children know

The children know not to wish on the lights that shoot across their skies

They know they are not stars

The children know they are missiles sent to kill them

Examples set by their parents to never yield

Symbolically using sling shots against tanks

Because the children need to know the lives they are living can’t be fair

The children know they are innocent

And they know their innocence has been stolen

They have seen 75 years of genocide

They have seen their families martyred

They were there for the great march of return

But the media in this country plays games with the truth

Because crimes against humanity is a game we play in our safe fucken houses

When we are drinking and feeling a little bit witty and a little bit political

The bombs have been falling my whole life

The tears that have been wept watered the soil during the Arab spring

Freezing through the Arab winter

History is cruel and ironic casting Zionists in the role of Nazis

We’ve seen the human condition lost under conditions

Stolen land paid for only in collateral currency

Gaza has been called an open air prison

It is an open casket

Parading the victories of Zionism

That took the children of David and put them back in the ghetto

Then put stars on the shoulders of soldiers

The children know

That Kevlar vests that read the word press is the same as having a target on your chest

The children know

Beach front frontiers

Vistas of freedom

From the river to the sea

Keep your keys in your pockets to remind you home isn’t always where the heart is

Home is where it was is and always will be

Haunting eyes stare through fish net and olive leaves

The children know

The children know why their names are written on their bodies

Because the children know that being chosen does not give you the power or the right

To choose who lives and who dies

But the children still wish for peace

Because the children know the world can be better

And so do we