Where God Lives

Roni Sosis

Summer of 2006: The Second Israeli-Lebanese War 

Under the missile-streaked sky the windows are empty in Israel, 
and the cats lie stomach-up in the street, smothered quiet 
by the midday heat. An old man sits under a whispering 
olive tree, watches his city fall apart, begs God.  
A girl plays monopoly in her grandparent’s basement in Pennsylvania,
too young to know that she is a refugee. Strange, 

she thinks, she’s rolled two sixes in a row. It’s strange
to be so lucky. On the TV they point to a map of Israel, 
then zoom in to ground view. She watches from Pennsylvania  
as a missile floats down to her street like a dandelion seed when God 
is looking away. A cat runs from the rubble. Blocks away in his quiet 
home, the old man palms backgammon pieces, thinks of whispering 

stories to his granddaughter on his knee, whispering 
how the thin white pieces were slivers of the moon. So strange 
to remember. He looks out the window and asks God 
where all the people went. Flying from Israel
on the wings of eagles, God answers, and the old man is quiet 
but he wants to beat the earth and scream. In Pennsylvania

it is night and the girl watches streaking stars. Pennsylvania
is where God lives, she thinks, and the whispering 
moon casts strange shadows onto the underside of Israel. 

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Roni Sosis is an undergraduate student at Carnegie Mellon University studying Creative Writing, Global Studies, and Arabic. Roni hopes to pursue a career in Human Rights law and advocate for Middle Eastern and Arab refugees. The poem is inspired by Roni’s experience as a child living in Israel during the Second Lebanese War.