“\u201cWhat we did was insane and monstrous\u201d, Head of IDF rocket unit, July 2006<\/p>\n
Cluster<\/strong> On his last evening All throughout that month, He held his lectures
\nBy Zein El-Amine. Edited by Melissa Tuckey, July 29, 2011<\/p>\n
\nAbu Ali walked home
\nbetween the rows of pine
\nthat line his driveway,
\nsettled in the shelter
\nof his grape arbor, rolled
\na cigarette, was served tea
\nby his wife,
\nwho was preparing
\nfor the expected arrival
\nof unexpected guests.
\nHe spotted a cluster
\nabove his head
\nand tugged at it.
\nThe stem snapped,
\nthe concealed cylinder slipped,
\nits yellow ribbon followed,
\nfluttered down,
\nlike a ticker tape.
\nA dull pop was heard.
\nA flash lit up the arbor \u2013
\nAbu Ali\u2019s last dispatch
\nto Marjiyoon\u2019s children.<\/p>\n
\nthat followed the Summer Rain,
\nhe had gathered
\nthe kids wherever
\nhe found them.
\nShowed them pictures,
\nof all the colors
\nthat these things come in \u2013
\none next to a cell phone
\nto give them a sense
\nof scale. One of a boy,
\nsitting in a hospital,
\nseeming to kneel,
\nseeming to pray.<\/p>\n
\nunder the cover of one tree
\nor another: under the fig
\ntrees, with their fruit
\nin red August burst,
\nor under the sparse shelter
\nof a fruitless pomegranate.
\nThe people of Marjiyoon
\nsay, that on his last day,
\nhe was seen near the cemetery
\nsitting in the sprawling shade
\nof the twisted branches of an olive tree.<\/p>\n