Ram Balsan, Age 21, Sderot
Dawn has come, and with it,
the security alarm ‘rings’ with its timely precision.
Its ring is very strange: a calm vibration followed
by a loud boom.
The cabinet extends its finger to this clock,
Trying to hit the stop button.
But the alarm wont stop.
It is thrown and destroyed,
But the ringing continues.
And in those seconds, I hear one of my parents call,
“Hurry up! We’re having a family meeting!”
I reply with a beating heart, and the meeting does not happen.
Some families never meet anyway;
They just remain lying down.
The summer sun has almost risen.
I manage to hear the ‘thunder’ again,
But nobody can find any lightening in the sky.
Most of us have become used to this,
As if the rockets were merely natural phenomena.
As if we had many odd weather events recently.
When I think about it, I wonder:
Could it be mechanical? Digital? Maybe both combined?
Surely it could not be human.
It would be interesting to know he feels, he looks mathematical to me.
He fantasizes about 72, While I dream about 18.
Like always, he manages to wake me up.
He is a good alarm-clock.
He will surely wake up the whole town, even the strongest sleepers.
I will not return to sleep, having nothing left to dream about.
