Gaza Exodus - The Return Journey Home Poem by Bernedita Rosinha Pinto

Their return journey home has begun
as thousands of Palestinians keep walking hastily
with mothers carrying babies in their arms,
while innocent children keep walking cheerfully
with no fears or tears in their little eyes.

Fatigued and unaware of what they will find,
still they want to get back home to their loved ones;
so they keep walking hurriedly and eagerly
hoping they will re-embrace their solidarity
and re-build their lives and future
though on the other side their homes and buildings
have been levelled or destroyed
and their apartments stand there
with no windows or doors to shield them.

Yet, they all are rushing home to Northern Gaza
by foot, by carts, by cars and even by wheel chairs
as war has been so harsh and heart-breaking
with so many lives lost, so many injured
that peace is now like a gift so precious to them;

and though their streets are full of debris and rubble
and they have no paradise waiting for them,
those broken buildings and those fallen apartments
do not pose as their deterrent or their hurdle
as they have inside them their own sense of belonging
which makes them keep walking and walking
even though the war has made them
so weak and tired, so hungry and famished;

now it is their journey homeward
as they want to get back and feel restful
they want to re-unite with their families;
and as they keep walking
the feeling of solace and the joy of unity
invigorates in their knees creating a desire
to regain their homes, their life and their peace
which they have missed for over a year.