For ten or so days
I’ve been searching for a loaf,
just a loaf.
They said it vanished from global warehouses.
A child saw it take to the stage,
or was it bombed by a plane.
The loaf is elusive, and my feet are tired.
My little ones don’t understand,
they think they’re in the old days,
you ate whenever you got hungry,
they wonder what they did wrong,
why do I punish them with this hunger and this thirst.
The last thing my youngest says to me this morning—
isn’t this too much punishment, Dad?
Khaled Juma
Translated from Arabic by Toyseer Abu Odeh and Sherah Bloor