Poem by Fadel Kishko

Bite my Heart

I am hungry,
Wandering in the street,
No crumbs, no scent, no scrap
Of food to eat. I walk
Beside a million, yet I’m none--
A shadow moving silent in the sun.

I dream of bread,
Of warmth beneath my hand,
But wake to dust, to ash, to ruined land.
No place to bloom, no roots,
No patch of grace—just cold air
Pressing hard against my face.

Like flour spilled,
Like petals turned to stone,
I fed no soul and starved
Within my own.

My heart was bitten,
But my bread was kind,
It never cursed the hunger of mankind.

Bite my heart but never my bread,

Though hollow, I’m still living, not dead.

The plate is bare.
My voice begins to fade,
More fleeting than a soul
Upon a blade.

So bite my heart
And let it break,
But leave my bread--
It’s all I take.

THEME: Famine, Displacement, Survival, Human Resilience

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BIO: ​Fadel Kishko is a writer from Gaza. His work explores grief, hunger, and the moral weight of survival. He writes to preserve the dignity of those silenced and to speak through the dust where stories are buried.