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To Siniora: My New friend in Gaza
By Ada Aharoni
*
Your shy smile under your veil
And luminous dark eyes in the theatre
Of life, of strife, caught my eye
In the Ability Center in Khan Yunis,
I invited you to take a picture with us
And you charmingly agreed.
I gave you my poetry book translated into Arabic,
You read and surprised, said, "You love peace as much as I do!"
You gave me your address and asked for more books,
And I promised to send you all my twenty books.
Then pointing out from the window
To the impressive new buildings, you wistfully said,
"We have to build Gaza with peace poems too,"
And we became new friends.
With women it is as easy as that.
You asked me about my children,
I asked you about your family,
You showed me your artwork,
I showed you my writing, my pictures,
You smiled and said, your children look like you.
You showed me your beautiful museum
With gorgeous embroidered Palestinian dresses,
You asked: "Which one do you like best?"
I pointed to the dark blue with red embroidery,
Like the one I used to proudly wear
In my poetry presentations a long time ago.
"I'll embroider it for you, and send it to you to Haifa,"
You promptly, softly said.
I was so moved and hugged you dear Siniora,
My new, warm friend in Gaza,
With women it is as natural, as easy as that.
When our blue bus drove away,
We both waved to each other with a smile
Followed by a tear in our eyes,
My wonderful new friend in Gaza -
With women it is as natural, as easy as that.
Men! Learn from women for a change,
Let women help you make friends, make peace -
With women it is as natural, as human as that.
Note *: Ada Aharoni (Ph.D), is a writer, lecturer and researcher in Conflict Resolution, at the Technion in Haifa. She has published twenty three books and six poetry books. Not In Your War Anymore, is her latest collection of peace poems. She is the editor of the electronic magazines: PAVE PEACE Through Literature And Culture, and Poetry Israel: Lirit; as well as the the editor-in-chief of the Anthology: Waves Of Peace, dedicated to the memory of Yitzhak Rabin. She is the president of IFLAC: PAVE PEACE: The International Friends of Literature and Culture for Paving Peace; as well as the president of THE BRIDGE: Israeli and Palestinian Women for Peace in the Middle East. Her Homepage dedicated to PAVE PEACE can be visited at the following web site: http://tx.technion.ac.il/~ada/home.html Back