Al-Rashid Road – a villanelle

In the land where Goliath once strode
With the whine of a drone overhead
There’s an air strike on Al-Rashid Road

The targeted vehicles explode
And seven aid workers lie dead
In the land where Goliath once strode

In soft-skinned transport they rode
Too easy for missiles to shred
There’s an air strike on Al-Rashid Road

Where the lifeblood of charity flowed
Good Samaritans now fear to tread
In the land where Goliath once strode

With shelling the alms they erode
Denying the starving their bread
There’s an air strike on Al-Rashid Road

A ceasefire now surely is owed
As blood-soaked the path lays ahead
In the land where Goliath once strode
There’s an air strike on Al-Rashid Road

The Gospel According to Nick Ferrari

He gets up in the morning
Brushes his teeth
Puts on some coffee
And condemns Hamas

Drinks some coffee
To the background of the telly
Puts on his shoes
And condemns Hamas

He walks to the station
Picks up a paper
Takes a seat on the train
And condemns Hamas

On the front page
An Israeli sniper
Has shot two women
He condemns Hamas

Shot them in a church
The Holy Family
The Pope says he’s unhappy
He condemns Hamas

A mother and a grandmother
One carrying the other
Shop by a sniper
He condemns Hamas

Layla Moran
Some of them are family
Says it’s a tragedy
He condemns Hamas

Nahida and Samar
Mother and a grandmother
Shot by a sniper
He condemns Hamas

Nahida and Samar
Eylon Levy doesn’t buy it
The IDF deny it
He condemns Hamas

He calls the Pope a liar
Layla Moran a liar
Nahida and Samar
He condemns Hamas