I Get to Live

The sun hits my head

And the depth of the rainbow

Seems aligned in my eyes

With the head of my shadow

It is a summer afternoon

And I have a handful of time

To walk into stores

And buy what is needed

In the name of the hunger

Which must be defeated

I could have more

The lenses of my sunglasses shine

I hold my wife’s hand

While we move through the darkness

My accounts are in order

But she’d love me regardless

We look in each other’s eyes

And kiss beside the street sign

I get to live

Isn’t it a privilege?

I wasn’t a child in Rafah

Whose innocence was given

Zero consideration

Upon detonation

No one decides

A forecast of rain

And the sky is gunmetal

I’m buying flowers

With red and white petals

The bouquet overflows

I must hold it to the side

Color which dies

Is a compromise with beauty

For we betray the principles

That uphold love truly

In the name of order and empire

Repelling the killing tide

My wife opens the door

Softening the world with a smile

She shears the stems from the roses

In a neat green pile

We talk about November

Upon the couch entwined

I get to live

Life’s a funny proposition

I wasn’t first over a trench

Upon the command of a whistle

Negotiating mustard gas

In a plague mask

I am alive