Such a People

Such a People
By Rachel Kann

…whoso saveth the life of one, it shall be as if he had saved the life of all mankind…. 
—Quran, Surat Al-Mai’dah 32
					
…whoever preserves one life, it is as if he has preserved an entire world…
—Talmud, Sanhedrin 37a

…These observations are supported by the significant overlap of Y chromosomal haplogroups between Israeli and Palestinian Arabs with Ashkenazi and non-Ashkenazi Jewish populations that has been described previously…
—Abraham's Children in the Genome Era, National Library of Medicine

they want us all 
gone they want us all 
dead they want us 
elsewhere 
at best 

they 
have no point of reference
cannot understand 
the depth of our interconnection 

bodies embedded in
an extension of 
this
land
we
know how cheap
they think our blood is

generation upon generation
an endless cycle
torn from roots
exiled barred reviled 
rounded up exterminated
raped dismembered burned alive

our ancestors teach

to save a life 
is to save humanity is to
save the world entirely

on my life

were there another people 
thus abhorred amputated 
from their very soil
imprisoned maligned 
used as pawns by
murderous powers that be

I would invite such a person
from such a people 
to come sit with me
beneath my grandfather’s 
olive tree

I would call such a person
cousin

how strange and familiar
to have another 
to understand

and

God    
السميع
השם

if such a person 
were to ever exist

how would you
show them 
to me?