May 10, 2013
“Gate A-4”
Poet Naomi Shihab Nye is the daughter of a Palestinian father and an American mother and lived for a time in Palestine. In this link, she tells of a deeply moving incident that offers hope to our world in these troubled times. It all started with a four-hour flight delay at the Albuquerque airport and an urgent announcement about a need for someone who spoke Arabic to go to Gate A-4 immediately. That was her gate! Read what happened next; it will touch you at your deepest level. This poetic narrative was reprinted with permission on the Poets.org website from the Academy of American Poets. It was originally published in Nye’s 2008 book, Honeybee: Poems and Short Prose.