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
Taqwa Ahmed Al-Wawi, is a writer and poet from Gaza, Palestine. She is a 19-year-old student of English literature at the Islamic University of Gaza. Through her words, she strives to amplify Gaza’s voice and shed light on stories that are often left untold.
In addition to contributing to We Are Not Numbers (WANN), her work has appeared in prominent outlets including The Electronic Intifada, Mondoweiss, The Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, The Palestine Chronicle, The Markaz Review, Middle East Monitor, Al Jazeera English, Middle East Eye, The Massachusetts Review, the Institute for Palestine Studies, Prism, the New Arab, The Intercept, Politics Today, and Truthout. Her poetry has also been published by Baladi Magazine and Opol.
Cover Photo by Mohammed Ibrahim on Unsplash
