(Bismillah) I asked Tasneem if it’s appropriate for non-Muslims

To use Muslim sayings respectfully, and I think I made her day

When Tasneem knew that I have heard of Allahu Akbar

And Bismillah. She taught me through recording how to say

Inshallah and Assalamu Alaikum. She even got me to record

Myself mouthing Assalamu Alaikum to her for the first time.

And so Assalamu Alaikum to her family and all Palestinians,

Amen and Allahu Akbar through the 77th Nakba, as prayer

Is not so much of a religious or racial thing than it is human;

That even an atheist would at least pray to anyone who listens

To their thoughts, that all shall be well somehow, Inshallah,

In which when we will it enough, God/Allah shall deliver.

Ramadan in Palestine, 2025

Humanitarian boxes reborn and reshaped into Ramadan decorations,

Green as olive trees and colourful as the citrus and strawberries

That once sweetened their souls. For some, the small cardboards

Are too heavy to hold with their hopelessness, easily soaked

In tentless rain puddles. And yet some children trace their eyes

On the lanterns, willing it to turn back into boxes, filling emptiness