We are accused of terrorism
If we dare to write about the remains of a homeland
That is scattered in pieces and in decay
In decadence and disarray
About a homeland that is searching for a place
And about a nation that no longer has a face
About a homeland that has nothing left of its great ancient verse
But that of wailing and eulogy
About a homeland that has nothing in its horizons
Of freedoms of different types and ideology
About a homeland that forbids us from buying a newspaper
Or listen to anything
About a homeland where all birds are always not allowed to sing
About a homeland that out of horror, its writers are using invisible ink
About a homeland that resembles poetry in our country
Improvised, imported, loose and of no boundaries
Of foreign tongue and soul
Detached from Man and Land, ignoring their plight as a whole
About a homeland to the negotiating table moves
Without a dignity or shoes
About a homeland
That no more has steadfast men
With only women therein
Bitterness is in our mouthsin our talkin our eyes
Will draught also plague our souls as a legacy passed to us
from ancient times?
Our nation has nobody left, even the less glorified
No one to say "NO" in the face of those who gave up our
homebread and butter
Turning our colorful history into a circus
We have not a single honest poem
That has not lost its virginity in a ruler's Harem
We grew accustomed to humiliation
Then what is left of Man
If he is comfortable with that?
I search the books of history
For men of greatness to deliver us from darkness
To save our women from fires' brutality
I search for men of yesterday
But all I find is frightened cats
Fearing for their souls
From the authority of rats
Are we hit by national blindness
Or are we suffering from color blindness
We are accused of terrorism
If we refuse to perish
Under Israeli tyranny
That is hampering our unity
Our history
Our Bible and our Quran
Our prophets' land
If that is our sin and crime
Then terrorism is fine
We are accused of terrorism
If we refuse to be wiped out
By barbarians, the Mongols or the Jews
If we choose to stone the fragile security council
Which was sacked by the king of caesuras
We are accused of terrorism
If we refuse to negotiate the wolf
And reach out for a whore
America is fighting the cultures of Man
Because it lacks one
And against the civilizations because it needs one
It is a gigantic structure but without a wall
We are accused of terrorism
If we refuse current times
Where America the arrogant the mighty the rich
Became a sworn interpreter of Hebrew.
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Comments
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another view
dang, this is deep.
a great persective from the eyes of a Palestinian, no later than 1998, of course (when he died), so i wonder how accurate this perception is today. i imagine not much has changed.
anyhow, i love the part directly stated about America at the end, with the metaphore "It is a gigantic structure but without a wall."
sometimes it feels this way. but perhaps a better depiction would be "a gigantic structure but with many walls," as there are so many different people and cultures here - which can make us hard to unite, ironically.
what the author did not see at the time is that it is the people of the world that make up America's identity, not just the steriotypical white Anglo-Saxon, blonde hair, blue eyed Europeans who have lost their identity.
but then again, our president IS a white, southern-speaking Texan. what could be a more steriotypical figurehead?
and if "[they] are accused of terrorism," then is it safe to say that "we are accused of war-mongering"?
Pap
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From guest DannyD (contact)
An amzing poem, even a European like myself can identify with Qabbani's poem -
From guest Aseel (contact)
Nizar beautifully describe the Arabic crisis,and smartly defend their rights to fight back through this poem.. -
A poem that still rings as true as when it was written. The last two stanzas in particular hit home, and hit hard. About Palestine, obviously, but never stated, yet it has overtones of more recent US imperialism.
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