I don't want to die

'I don't want to die, Daddy'
pleads the child, his eyes
wide with terror.

A photographer captures
the moment, reporter
translates the words.

The father holds his child
tight in his arms, the boy
clinging to his neck.

An apartment block slides
balletically to the ground,
rockets zip through the sky.

We watch from the sofa
unsure if the child and his dad
are Israeli or Palestinian,

not that it matters -
the pain is the same.

I DON'T WANT TO DIE