Between

Poem by Dana Smith

Between bullet and flesh,
a spirit rising like mist, mostly unseen.

Between the thought and the deed
a sliver of time that makes the earth quake.

Between missile and strike:
a family, turned pillar of fire.

Between speech and the ear: a storm
surge of heart. Dawn’s silence at sea.

Between this war and the field,
a wind gentling an olive tree.

Between the womb and the victor
one child, head tucked into her knees.

Between thee and me,
a spindly God crouched

in the cedar of Lebanon. Our history,
with its blood leaves scattered.

Between thee and me:
Burnt acres of lemon and fig.

Maybe a seed.

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