The writer and educator Heba Abu Nada was killed by an airstrike on her home in Gaza on October 20, 2023. She was 32 years old.
Not Just Passing
by Heba Abu Nada
Yesterday, a star said
to the little light in my heart,
We are not just transients
passing.
Do not die. Beneath this glow
some wanderers go on
walking.
You were first created out of love,
so carry nothing but love
to those who are trembling.
One day, all gardens sprouted
from our names, from what remained
of hearts yearning.
And since it came of age, this ancient language
has taught us how to heal others
with our longing,
how to be a heavenly scent
to relax their tightening lungs: a welcome sigh,
a gasp of oxygen.
Softly, we pass over wounds,
like purposeful gauze, a hint of relief,
an aspirin.
O little light in me, don’t die,
even if all the galaxies of the world
close in.
O little light in me, say:
Enter my heart in peace.
All of you, come in!
Translated from Arabic by Huda Fakhreddine via Mizna and Arab Lit
live in the layers 
Breathtakingly beautiful and poignant.
the beauty of this poem (this heart!) makes me weep
I have no words for the utter beauty and utter heartbreak of this poem. Thank you. It is a great and terrible gift for these horrific times.