In a cafe, In Al-Khalil, five teenage girls approached me, an older white woman, and asked lots of questions. Is love real? was their last question. I was leaving and there wasn’t time to say much. But I thought about it afterwards.
Is love real? she asked,
speaking for the five bright eyed girls,
shy but eager in their hijabs,
who really wanted an answer.
Love, I said, Yes!
Love is at the centre of the universe.
Love animates everything.
They seemed so pleased.
We parted.
Is it true? Is love real?
Well, it’s love that makes them their aspiring selves;
love that makes their teachers kindle their hopes;
love that prizes excellence,
that applauds achievement,
that fills life to the full,
that inspires beautiful resistance;
courage, service and sacrifice
That’s real.
I see it every day.
There’s hatred, yes;
in the eyes and the hearts of the Occupation,
in the daily humiliations;
in the beatings and the imprisonments and the torture;
in the murders, day by day.
That’s real.
I see it every day.
But it will pass.
One day it will melt in sorrow.
Meanwhile, little sisters, who know already how to love,
let it be real.
Trust. Struggle. Resist. Laugh.
And when and if you come to marry,
I hope you will marry for love.
I hope your love will grow,
yours to receive and to pass on,
The realest thing in the universe. Yours.
Spirit of the Universe,
Spirit of love,
thank you for the loving spirit of the Palestinian people
that shows itself in care and hospitality and in beautiful resistance,
and in the aspirations of its young people,
we pray for love between each other;
We pray for love in the place of hatred.
Keep us loving as well as resisting
in the face of all that is evil.
Let us live the truth that love is indeed real,
the realest thing in the universe.
