Day 527/Ceasefire Day 57

Why would this man
not have a right
to rebuild his house?  The one
that stood before the bombing
had been built by him:  months
of setting one board
against another, wiring, laying
the pipes.  All his labor
destroyed in a single moment;
but he and his family escaped.
Survived!  Why would he be denied
materials now?  Why now?
By night he digs through the rubble,
scavenges, finds whatever 
he can redeem of the original
house:  a pipe here, a handful
of screws.  Who has the right
to deprive him of this, even to tell him
it’s futile, the bombs
will come again?  Will take down
the work of his determined hands.
Who will tell him this
as he hammers one wall to another,
imagines how they will live
there, how their days will unfold?