he escapes from the earth – يحرب من علم

Yousef was expelled from his mother deformed. Water swelled his head to a cantaloupe, his eyes scrunched under the weight and his emaciated body dangled. His family came from the south, from bleached sky and baked earth. They had no money for surgery so they left him in the dim hospital to die.

At first I was repelled from his metal crib. I held his head gingerly, thin balloon stretched tight. He sucked feebly at the bottle and his weight settled over my heart; two months later he was gone. Yet another neglected child, eyes liquid brown, replaced him.