Poetry 1 min

Don’t Call Me

Haniya Yusufali

Too many people die

Too many people call me

To come

To a frail old woman

A careless youth

An innocent child

I was called

When there was a shooting

When there was a bombing

I came to Hiroshima and Nagasaki

I went to Afghanistan

Syria

Iraq

Palestine

I was summoned

To pick up the starving children in Yemen

To retrieve the infants in Ukraine

To clean up the remains

Of the war in Aleppo

To sweep away the bodies

Drowned on the beaches of the Mediterranean

Escaping from war

But arriving at my door

I was called too many times

So don't call me again

Because you attacked your brother

And starved your orphaned children

And widowed your women

So don't call me then

This poem was written by a Bay Area local for the San Jose Public Library Short Edition collection.

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