A Gazan man woke up this morning and made his way
to the rocket launcher that was his station and from which
he had orders to fire across the border into Israel.

An Israeli man put on his uniform, that of a airman
and he joined his men for breakfast before going to
the bomber that was his home most of the time these days.

Both of these men were married and each had two sons
and four daughters who were all of school age.

Four hours after he began his duties the Israeli airman
flew his bomber over Rafah and released his bombs
where below they wreaked havoc on many houses burying
many people beneath them, some of them children.

The Gazan man lost his wife and two sons
and one of his daughters in that raid
but he carried on firing from his station as a dutiful man.
One of his rockets by some odd coincidence landed on
that airman’s house killing his entire family.

Nine children…and for what. A piece of war-torn land
that has been made uninhabitable by any normal standard?
No!
They were killed, slaughtered, because selfish men
will not come to a compromise and seek a lasting peace.

One side could give, one side could give way a little.
Neither side will give an inch. Meanwhile…
children, innocent children, children whose lives
are hard enough in peace-time are being slaughtered
almost wholesale. For God’s sake…Stop,
for the Children’s sake…Stop

©Joe Wilson – Yet another death…2014