Rainbow

Can you straighten a rainbow?
Can you change the color of the sky?

Can you see flowers carpeting a garden in the dead of winter?

Can you chase after butterflies among rotten vegetables?

Can you hear music in the clatter and chaos of everyday life?

Can you dance to no tune in public, ignoring disapproving eyes?

Can you hold a beating heart in your palms, keeping it warm and safe?

Can you weave heroes out of ordinary men and women? Make them believe it too?

Can you be afraid of nothing?

Have you met people who can do all that, and then some?
Have you fallen in love, yet?

Have you experienced the joy of a loving woman who sprang hope when she ignored the world for you, and you alone?

Have you basked in the efforts of an attentive father who juggled jobs, his mind endlessly crunching numbers to make ends meet?

Have you felt the determination of a selfless mother charging through life, pushing every obstacle aside to let her offspring pass, succeed, or just stay alive?

Are you amazed by those who stand still, firm and immovable in the face of uncontrollable circumstances, blocking danger off loved ones like an iron shield because they have nowhere to run, nothing left to do?

Lilas Taha is a novelist, winner of the 2017 International Book Awards  and is the author of Shadows of Damascus and Bitter Almonds.