The Memory Of Lemon Juice, Gaza 2024 Poem by michele fermanis

The Memory of Lemon Juice, Gaza 2024

The scent of leaves
we placed between our clothes
no moths would dare to eat
but these we left behind

the fruit we sliced, summer ripe
packed in salt and sealed
preserved for later use
among the rubble of our home

my mother squeezed one each day
the drink she said
which gave her strength
but did not save her from the blast

before the bombs began
no home appeared complete
without its lemon tree
we cannot see where ours once grew

now we live in tents
wait hours in line for rice and mash
with our battered begging tins
the only things we own today

we talk and dream of food
recall the taste we crave
of boughs weighed down with fruit
from the tree that blessed our lives.