Untold Stories by Lillian Maaita

I am the story
that is never told.
I am the boy who will
never grow old.

It wasn't enough to steal my land
they stole my childhood and smile
They don't care that I'm guilty of no crime
Or that I'm just a child.

I am the girl who smiles no more.
The girl who lost her laughter.
Another casualty in the search
For the power they were after.

I am the child who was woken from bed
and suddenly told to run.
Uprooted from my life and home
As they drop bombs on us for fun.

I am the toddler who will never outgrow
The clothes my mother bought be.
I'll never be able to make her proud.
Displaying the many lessons she taught me.

Gaza residents return to survey the damage done
to their homes

I am the infant who was slain
Without reason, in the light of day.
What was my crime?
No one can say.

I am the man who left my home
Never able to return.
And now I must sit by helplessly
As I watch my homeland burn.

I am the woman who
never ceases weeping.
The daughter who thinks
her father is just sleeping.

And waits for him to wake....

I am the mother who
Desperately tries to comfort her child
But doesn't know what to say.
She struggles to force out the words,
"I know it will get better someday."

I am the family
that was forced to flee.
When they bulldozed my home
and cut down our trees.

I am the flag that refuses
to lie down.
I am the shouts

that won't be drowned
By the rumble of their tanks.

My story remains
an empty book.
They still won't confess to
the lives they took.
And all the worlds they
shattered and shook.

To them I'm nothing but a casualty of war.
Simply a lost soul to even the score.
If they get their way there will be many more.
Lost souls, unlived lives, untold stories
They won't be satisfied,
Until even the rocks and stones bleed.
No conscious of justice, ears deaf to our pleas.
When will the world stand and stop these atrocities?!

I know someday we will all be free
On The Day when each soul will receive
That which Allah has decreed.

وَلَا تَحْسَبَنَّ اللَّهَ غَافِلًا عَمَّا يَعْمَلُ الظَّالِمُونَ ۚ إِنَّمَا يُؤَخِّرُهُمْ لِيَوْمٍ تَشْخَصُ فِيهِ الْأَبْصَارُ

"And think not that Allah is unaware of what the Oppressors do, He only grants them respite until the day the eyes will stare in horror." [14:42]

I've seen beauty in the dark of night, and many horrors in the light of day.

They told me to fear the dark

where monsters and evil tend to lurk.

I fear nothing but the evil within the human heart.

For I have seen more evil in the light of day,

than in the dark as they always say.

Even the "caring" turn their heads and look away.

They close their eyes against the sights

of children crying, cowering in fright.

Is this not a cause for which they will fight?

They plug headphones in their ears

to block out the sound of their tears.

The call for justice reaps no volunteers.

They sit at home on their TV's

watching as the whole world bleeds.

When did we become humans without humanity?

I try to believe goodness still exists,

yet when oppression occurs but a few resist

and when the helpless cry out no one assists.

There are some who remain steadfast and strive,

for they know justice can't truly be alive

while most still struggle just to survive.

Nothing seems to stir their hearts.

They sit back while the helpless wait for uprising to start.

Yet they still tell me I should fear the dark.

They still tell me I should fear the dark.