Morning Song

In “Morning Song,” the speaker questions what anyone, particularly the Israeli soldiers, could want of the tiny journalist, and responds to this question first with the answer, “Her treasures / the shiny buttons her grandmother loved” (Lines 21-22). These buttons, an heirloom that likely has more value to the journalist than anyone outside her family, are fair game for the Israeli soldiers to take. They could take them for monetary value but also because taking them would cause pain.

Nye increases the value of what the soldiers could want and take from the journalist by next mentioning “her uncle, her cousin” (Line 23). Human lives are much more precious than the grandmother’s beloved buttons. As a result, in this list of what the soldiers could take, the reader can sense the fear in which the journalist lives, as anyone or anything she finds valuable—however small or large—can disappear at any time.

In an interview, Ayyad mentioned that she wishes the world could be pink; Nye incorporated this into her poem: “Yes, she would / prefer to dance and play, / would prefer the world / to be pink” (Lines 7-10). The color pink is commonly associated with young girl children. Via social media, Ayyad sees how young girls throughout the world live, while posting her photos of her people’s mistreatment at checkpoints. Even though she wishes she could be like other girls, she lives in different, troubling circumstances that make playing and dancing nearly impossible.

Beyond the common association to girl children, the color pink could also represent the color of a sunset or sunrise without the interference of gun smoke greying the air. The daily lives of many Palestinians are riddled with gun shots, tear gas, and more, which permeate both their skies and their outlooks. The color pink could ultimately be a symbol of hope, which is the note upon which Nye ends her poem: “She has a better idea” (Line 39). Perhaps, in the future, Ayyad’s desire for pink will become possible for her people.