Shaden's son

We sipped our coffee and pondered the survived beauty of the city beneath us. Frank's foot rose above venturing ants, hovered undecided on their fate, though he had not begun to consider the implication of ending what he failed yet to recognize as a life. Sa'ed scolded him with the authority of an abrupt poet, the consequences crystalized in that instant. But the poet's voice, halted, could not belie the tenderness of its source.

Memory can scald, inwardly collapsing worlds that condense to unbearable weights bound impossibly within. Legacies are felt with hands, seen on the softened faces caressed by the individual who embodies them. They are carried by the collective, flags relieved in favor of what she gave a generation of sons.

'God willing' is not an expression of doubt, but the sounding of a promise we are being looked after. It is faith, not merely hope, that we will meet on this holy path again, to walk a few more steps together in a changed tomorrow.

-In loving memory of Shaden Abu Hijleh
killed October 11, 2002