What could have been

(...But All Now Ends in ‘War’)

“If not now, when and if not us, pushing for this change, who?..”  

Francesca Albanese

GLOBAL RIGHTS 

Child,

What could have been

but now will not

what would have taken breath

but could not

what could have been but we ourselves

both could or would not speak

 

seeing the size of our solitary catastrophe...

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Could or would or even

"I do not know"  (nor care)

you must still stand in line

embrace now

the curse of these lawless soldiers

their flag naked with only fear

left free to unfold

 

soldiers,  they say,

the “willful executioners of a genocidal attack” (Francesca Albanese)

soldiers

“…haunted by what they have done”

and

“…what they have seen.” (Francesca Albanese)

 

Soldiers, in their strange and solitary suicide

called “war”...

 Full Poem & Links

 

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"If I am not for myself, who will be for me? And being for myself, what am I? And if not now, when?" (Hillel the Elder)

 

 "Young Israeli soldiers are 'wilful executioners' in Gaza, says Albanese" 

 (Sky News, July 7, 2025)

#poetry for #Gaza 🇵🇸-🇮🇪 Saoirse don Phalaistín - #FreePalestine

Some Images taken from RTE News, July 25th, 2025