For Sale: A Wheelchair Poem by Nizar Sartawi

(For Ibrahim Abu Thuraya)

For sale: a wheelchair
in good condition.
The seat is black
wide, warm
and clean (blood stains
washed off) :
the two push handles: soft and comfy;
they have been held with love
and care;
the armrests rarely have been used;
foortrest and footplate -
still brand new.

The owner used it for the last time
when he left the Shati refugee camp
to join the crowds
who hailed Jerusalem as their own
and hurled stones - their live ammunition -
across barbed wires
that circled Gaza.

The 29-year-old amputee,
jumps off the wheelchair
falls on his knees;
he crawls towards the prison fence
his right hand holding
a Palestinian flag,
his left-hand fingers making a V.

A sniper on the other side
smiles
as he takes aim…
and whizzz…
the bullet finds the stubborn head
and
he
falls
dead!
~ ~ ~ ~

For sale: a very special wheelchair
with a history extraordinaire
lying there
like a question mark above
the Homeland
The price: your blood…
his blood
her blood
or mine…!

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