By Lauren Gayle Magno
7th grade | Walker Junior High School | California
Finalist in the K–11 contest, Peace and Conflict category

With lines from “A Mother and Baby From Gaza Are Reunited 11 Months After Being Separated at Birth” by Elissa Nadworny, Fatima Al-Kassab, and Claire Harbage, a Pulitzer Center-supported story

In Gaza, before dawn breaks fully,
Air hums.
A building folds like paper in the wind.
“Leave me, leave me to die,” she speaks into the dust,
her son already gone,
her body learning the language of ruin.

Eight lives vanish in one breath of war.

And yet,
From silence carved by sirens and smoke,
A different sound arrives,
A newborn cries in a dark hospital,
Phones lighting the hands of doctors,
No power but will.

She drew her first breath,
And so did her mother,
As if life itself refused to end there.

They call her Mariam.

Later, far from the ash of Gaza,
Doha holds them in a clean room and waiting halls.
But distance is its own kind of wound.
Months pass through screens and static light,
A mother watching her child grow
Like a story she can’t touch.

“It's me, mom,” she says,
But memory does not yet answer.

This is what war does.
It splits time from touch,
Love from recognition,
Family from the simple act of holding.
And the world still watches, because this conflict is not only theirs.
It echoes through borders and headlines,
A reminder that civilians become its language,
And children, it’s the most fragile argument
For why peace is never local.

Now Mariam laughs like her brother did,
A sound of grief and hope.

“I want to do things for myself,” her mother says,
One arm reaching forward.

Even in war’s shadow,
Survival demands attention.

Lauren Gayle Magno is a rising eighth-grade student at Walker Junior High School in La Palma, California. She is proud of her Filipino heritage and loves to learn more about her culture. She enjoys reading, writing, and creating crafts. Lauren hopes to become a pediatrician.

She wrote this poem to raise awareness about the realities of war, loss, and the pain families experience during times of conflict. Through her words, Lauren hopes to encourage reflection, understanding, and compassion for those affected by these struggles.

Read more winning entries from the 2026 Fighting Words Poetry Contest.