Zenana
by Noor Hindi
“The word is the Arabic term that Gazans have given to Israel’s drone aircraft, a ubiquitous and frightening feature of daily life in this crowded strip of land along the sea. Roughly translated, zenana means buzz” – “In Gaza, lives shaped by drones” Washington Post, 2011.
Despite many things, the hummingbirds still flap their wings. They sing.
They cannot walk through security checkpoints. Think
of their red beaks. Blue throats. The hum
of their heart beats.
If I had wings.
I would not look at the clouds. Or the violence
of heavy machinery.
Erase war. Erase history. Erase drones.
Erase drones. Erase drones.
The hum of a drone.
Is the song of the hummingbird.
The hum of the drone
stirs us to sleep. Rockabye sheep. Count
beep beep beep.
If you listen
close enough
you hear the green feathers
of a hummingbird
leave the bodies of small boys.
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