For Amir

I miss you, Amir, even though

Four stills and the tale from a GoPro film

Are all I know of your short life.

I would have loved to

Hear your tales from your mouth,

Or understood you better by your play,

Your laughter, your growth into a man

Who was not meant to be.

God’s plan for you was cruel. It seems

Your people were born for pain. It seems

Terrible suffering is what they know.

It seems you died a boy

Most brutally, by bullet from an IDF gun

On kissing another soldier’s hand who said

He cares, that the world cares. I care, Amir,

But offer up this verse.

A soldier fired a gun, and I see your smile.

A soldier killed another child and I feel

Your final kiss. These things survive.

These things fill the world.

Please stay young wherever you now play. Please

Make your boy’s laugh ring louder than

The rage of war, and reach farther than

Its seething waves of hate.

Please feast with your family in safe halls

With the blessings of a loving world

The music for all your meals, now

And forevermore.