A Prayer for the Madleen
Named after Gaza’s first & only fisherwoman
your bow points to resilience & courage
Yemaya, mother of fish & oceans
please protect the civilian vessel carrying
aid to the in Gaza.
steady the wind & tides, oh mother of
my people you protected the shores
of the motherland when slavers took them
Please protect the Madleen now.
Guide it’s starboard to the sacred & ancient
homeland of Palestinians
As a genocide, a holocaust continues
under occupation
Please let them break the siege
Keffiyehs & Palestinians flags & sails
dance in your wind, Goddess, on
this vessel of true humanity
May it remind us of the bare minimum
responsibility of us as interdependent creatures
May we too have the determination of
those 12 who sail the Madleen
May we demand our leaders for their
Safe passage & join the resistance anyway
we can
May we love the world so much
that this is simply the right thing to do.
4 thoughts on "A Prayer for the Madleen"
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Wow. This is a heart- feat response to tragedy! Your ending is perfect.
The only suggestion I have for you to think about is: Does every word earn it’s keep. Is your message stronger when you evict the words you don’t c need.
Faulkner advised that writers must be willing to “kill their darlings,” by which he meant edit bravely. 💙
Thank you for your poem. So be it.
I love the repetition of “may we…”; the message hits home. A beautiful and powerful write. Thank you for sharing it.
This is a true timely poem prayer. Amen and thank you