What is Gaza, a friend asks...

A mosque gets bombed
A school building collapses
A leader gets killed
Two nameless girls with their donkey carts lie dead
On the streets of Gaza
The count goes up to Three Hundred and Fifty
Now to Four Hundred
Day One, Day two and Day Three
Slowly the news, the outrage and the debates move
From page one to Page three

Perhaps the bombing will stop tonight.
For now.
The Presidents will hang up their phones
Thank God that they didn't have to catch that flight to Cairo
To sign another draft, pass another resolution
Fight over another missing word
Argue over who to blame first.
The newspapers will move on to stories that seem more real
About crashing stock markets and
Presidents on Hawaiian beaches.

Our sense of complacency will return
About the anonymity of Palestinians
The invisibility of those suffering
And the meaninglessness of their deaths.
Till another big bombing
Another Three Hundred and Fifty dead.