The Bibas family haiku project will comprise three groups of poems – each group representing a particular character.
The haikus will emulate the structure of a haiku in that the first character (Imma/mama) will have five haikus written in 5-7-5, the second character (baby Kfir, the youngest hostage taken at nine months) will have seven haikus written in 5-7-5, and the third character (Ariel, Kfir’s four-year-old brother) will have five haikus written in 5-7-5.
The characters will be a mother (Imma) and her two young sons in honor of the mother Shiri Bibas and her two sons, Kfir and Ariel, brutally ripped from their home in Israel and taken hostage by Hamas terrorists where they have been held apart from their father Yarden Bibas (also a hostage) in the labyrinthine tunnels of Gaza since 7 October 2023 and continuing. Baby Kfir was taken hostage at nine months and turned 12 months in captivity and his brother Ariel turned five years old in captivity.
Part 1. Imma
1:
Nightmare! Can’t be real.
My babies! Where are they now?!
Adonai, help us!
2:
Bewildered, Why? Why!
Why?! What have we done to you?!
Show us mercy please!
3:
Faded sobs from far
Soft whimpers break me apart
Take my life for theirs
4:
Begging compassion
Understanding does not come
Do you have children?
5:
Kfir and Ariel
Torn by terror. Mom still prays.
Where there’s life, there’s hope.
Part 2. Kfir
1:
Dark but not like womb
Womb was safety and comfort
Here there’s pain and fear
2:
No more Imma’s milk
Failure to thrive and survive
Seems real. Hope I’m wrong.
3:
Safe. In utero.
Now booms punctuate my ears
Earth shakes underground
4:
Shouts, and then silence
Are they coming to get me?
Imma, are you there?
5:
Emptiness again
Does the world remember me?
Time has no meaning
6:
Free of form. I float.
Consciousness is all I am
Remember, to live!
7:
Son of Yisrael
Kfir – young lion – brave and strong
Our nation’s symbol
Part 3. Ariel
1:
Only four years old
Yet, I know this is not right
Alone in darkness
2:
Don’t see Mom and Kfir
Baby bro, cold and helpless
Must be brave. For them.
3:
Imma says, be strong
At least, I imagine so
I want my mama!
4:
Outside seems so far
Grass and sky. Playing with Dad.
Dad! He must save us!
5:
They won’t let me cry
Hurt my skin. Must be brave boy.
I want to go home.
