In another universe

Imagining if we never left Palestine, a poem

Maybe in another universe, we never left.

and I sit under an olive tree, as old as me,

to hide in its shade from the sun, not occupiers setting the land ablaze

where the roots go untouched, the olives unplucked

In another universe, I am there

...

Where children's laughter echoes,

Their dreams as vast as the Mediterranean's reach.

Where our language flows freely,

Carrying stories etched into the land itself.

In this place, our houses stand tall and proud,

Unmarred by conflict,

The air is sweet with za'atar and mint,

and the red that floods the landscape is from poppies in spring.

In another universe, I am there.