“How Much We Died...”
A Poem by Nasser Rabah
“nothing left in the day’s haggard pockets / but dizzying hunger and rows of rubble”
How much we died…
It wasn’t so good for the flood to surge,
for the water to carry the procession of the house on its bloody shoulders,
it wasn’t so good for long life to pose at the shore of endurance,
so said my pain to the electrocardiograph,
coffee overflows, just like news bulletins from the hospital,
and rescue teams lining up on monitors of the un-seeable.
No shadow dances with my palm,
nothing left in the day’s haggard pockets
but dizzying hunger and rows of rubble,
the flood surges and tanks chatter,
how many of us died, no matter,
how much we died, no remembrance to count.
It wasn’t so good to invite Gaza
to the kids’ barbecue party,
they slipped past childhood sorrow
leaving their hearts like birds
on the windows of the house
and flying away they left
the dishes empty as mirrors,
without waiting, they left
us to cook the gravel,
the firewood moaning,
the flood roaring, and the jets,
and war a hideous sky,
malice fermenting in a suspect helmet.
Background music for recurring holocaust.
How much we died, no matter,
burnt hands don’t know to count.
June 7, 2025
Translated from Arabic by Ammiel Alcalay
Nasser Rabah
Nasser Rabah was born in Gaza in 1963. After getting a degree in Agricultural Science, he went on to work as Director of the Communication Department in the Agriculture Ministry. He is a member of the Palestinian Writers and Authors Union and has published five collections of poetry and two novels. Gaza: The Poem Said Its Piece, came out with City Lights in 2025, and two volumes of his poetry were recently published in Spanish translation. His poems have appeared in ArabLit, Harper’s, The Markaz Review, The New Yorker, The Paris Review, Words Without Borders, World Literature Today, and many other places. He lives in Gaza.
