“Blind World,” Taqwa al-Wawi

Blind world,
keep ignoring us.
Turn your face like
you always do.
Shut your eyes to
the blood.
Stay silent while
we burn.

But we are here—
erased from your maps,
trampled in your
headlines,
reduced to a footnote
no one reads.

We are dreams lost
before their time,
faces blurred on your
screens,
silence pinned to a
wall no one remembers.

Keep pretending,
live your life as if
nothing happened,
but remember—
we held a life better
than yours.

We hate you when you sleep
as our children dig their graves with
bare hands.
We hate you when you laugh
and our voices break inside our throats.
We hate you when you move on
as if nothing happened.

Not because you are strong,
but because you are cowardly.
Because you know,
and still choose not to care.

Blind world,
maybe you erase us—
but you never wash yourself clean of us.
We are the scar you cannot cover,
the voice that refuses to die,
we are the ones
who never forget.

Taqwa Ahmed al-Wawi is an aspiring writer, poet, and English literature student at the Islamic University of Gaza. Through her words, she strives to amplify Gaza’s voice and shed light on stories often left untold. Her writing has been featured by We Are Not Numbers (WANN), The Electronic Intifada, Mondoweiss, Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, The Palestine Chronicle, The Markaz Review, Middle East Monitor, Al Jazeera, and Middle East Eye.

Artwork: “Landless” by Safia Latif.