Michael Rosen's Tribute to the Children of Gaza

Michael Rosen, the Children's Laureate, read this moving poem at Saturday’s mass demonstration in London when an estimated 100,000 people braved the below-zero temperature in order to express their fury at Israel's war crimes in Gaza and their contempt for the British government's complicity.

Michael Rosen, the Children's Laureate, read this moving poem at Saturday’s mass demonstration in London when an estimated 100,000 people braved the below-zero temperature in order to express their fury at Israel's war crimes in Gaza and their contempt for the British government's complicity.

In Gaza, children,
you learn that the sky kills
and that houses hurt.
You learn that your blanket is smoke
and breakfast is dirt.

You learn that cars do somersaults
clothes turn red,
friends become statues,
bakers don't sell bread.

You learn that the night is a gun,
that toys burn
breath can stop,
it could be your turn.

You learn:
if they send you fire
they couldn't guess:
not just the soldier dies -
it's you and the rest.

Nowhere to run,
nowhere to go,
nowhere to hide
in the home you know.

You learn that death isn't life,
the air isn't bread.

The land is for all - you have the right to be not dead.
The land is for all - you have the right to be not dead.
The land is for all - you have the right to be not dead.
The land is for all -you have the right to be not dead.

You can watch Michael read the poem on You Tube.