Walking With Me Poem by Nassy Fesharaki

Walking with me

Would we...?
We are human; curiosity belongs to us more than to cats.
We decorate and draw, we puzzle and create,
We initiate and reap the consequences as
Drama and complaint.

This is being human.
Even in the height of the war,
Even in the midst of disaster.

But around a corner and away from the crowd –
We can be quiet and be still
To see our tenderness touches another's heart, as a breeze
Briefly, as if in our dreams.

We hear far more than is being said
We can move mountains to make a small babe feel safe.
‘Walk with me’ is name of many poems.

We are human and the core of contradictions.
So let us on occasion, stand still, to think
About the graffiti in Yemen and against invaders
About the honesty and smuggling of people and antiques
(The Phoenician pendant…heading back home)
And the comments on it; turned religious-racial-political.

“Clearly Phoenicians aren't Semites…”
“DNA evidence shows, residents of Israel are Semites.”
“Europeans, Khazars…”
“Semitic means a group of languages, not a religious or racial descriptor…”
“Jews who lived in Europe…diaspora…are related to those who stayed behind.”
“Khazars are not Hebrews.”

An ancient conversation
Flavoured with sweet and sour.