moqawama

I am with Terrorism



We are accused of terrorism:



if we defended rose and woman and the mighty verse ...



and the blueness of sky...



A dominion .. nothing left therein...



No water, no air ..



No tent, no camel, and not even dark Arabica coffee!!




We are accused of terrorism:



if we defended with guts the hair of Balqis and the lips of Maysun



if we defended Hind, and Da`d Lubna and Rabab ..



and the stream of Kohl coming down from their lashes like the



verses of revelation.



You will not find with me a secret poem or a secret logos



or books I put behind doors.



I do not even have one Qasidah



walking down the street, wearing Hijab.




We are accused of terrorism:



if we wrote about the ruins of a watan torn, weak ...



a watan with no address and an ummah with no names




I seek the remnants of a watan none of its grand poems is



left except the bemoans of Khansa.




I seek a dominion in whose horizons no freedom can be



found red .. blue or yellow.



A watan forbidding us from buying a newspaper



or listening to the news.



A dominion wherein birds are forbidden from chirping.



A watan wherein, out of terror [ru`b],



its writers got accustomed to write about nothing.




A watan, in the likeness of poetry in our lands:



It is vain talk, no rhythm, imported Ajam,



with a crooked face and tongue:



No beginning




No end



No relation with people's worry



mother earth and the crisis of man.



A dominion ... going to peace talks



with no honor no shoe.




A watan, men peed in their pans ...



women are those left to defend honor.




Salt in our eyes



Salt in our lips



Salt in our words



Can the self carry such dryness?



An inheritance we got from the barren Qahtan?



In our Ummah, no Mu`awiya, and Abu Sufiyan.




No one is left to say "NO" and face the quitters



they gave up our houses, our bread and our [olive] Oil.



They transformed our bright history into a mediocre store.




In our lives, no Qasidah is left,



since we lost our chastity in the bed of



the Sultan.



They got accustomed to us, the humbled.



What is left to man when all that remains



is disgrace.




I seek in the books of history



Ussamah ibn al-Munqith



Uqba ibn Nafi`



Omar, and Hamzah



and Khalid, driving his flocks conquering the Shem.




I seek a Mu`tasim Billah



Saving women from the cruelty of rape and the fire.




I seek latter days men



All I can see is frightened cats



Scared for their own souls, from the sultanship of mice.




Is this an overwhelming national blindness?



Are we blind to colors?




We are accused of terrorism



If we refuse to die with Israel's bulldozers



tearing our land tearing our history



tearing our Evangelium




tearing our Koran



tearing the graves of our prophets



If this was our sin,



then, oh, how beautiful terrorism is




We are accused of terrorism



if we refused to be effaced



by the hands of the Mogul, Jews and



Barbarians




if we throw a stone at the glass of the the Security



Council after the Ceasar of Ceasar got a hold of



it.




We are accused of terrorism



if we refuse to negociate with the



wolf and shake the hand with a whore Amrika



Against the cultures of the peoples with no culture



Against the civilizations of the civilized with no civilization



Amrika



a mighty edifice



with no walls!




We are accused of terrorism:



if we refused an era Amrika became



the foolish, the rich, the mighty translated, sworn in Ivri.




We are accused of terrorism:



if we throw a rose to Jerusalem to al-Khalil



to Ghazza to an-Nasirah



if we took bread and water



to beleaguered Troy.




We are accused of terrorism:



if we raised our voices against the regionalists of our leaders.



All changed their rides: from Unionists to Brokers.




If we committed the heinous crime of culture



if we revolted against the orders of the grand caliph



and the seat of the caliphate If we read jurisprudence or politics



If we recalled God and read Surat al-Fat-h



If we listened to the Friday sermon



then we are well-established in the art of terrorism




We are accused of terrorism



if we defended land and the honor of dust



if we revolted against the rape of people



and our rape if we defended the last palm trees in our



desert the last stars in our sky



the last syllabi of our names



the last milk in our mothers' bossoms



if this was our sin



how beautiful is terrorism.




I am with terrorism



if it is able to save me from the immigrants from Russia



Romania, Hungaria, and Poland



They settled in Palestine set foot on our shoulders



to steal the minarets of al-Quds and the door of Aqsa



to steal the arabesques and the domes.




I am with terrorism



if it will free the Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth,



and the virgin, Meriam Betula and the holy city



from the ambassadors of death and desolation




Yesteryear



The nationalist street was fervent like a wild horse.



The rivers were abundant with the spirit of youth.




But after Olso, we no longer had teeth:



we are now a blind and lost people.




We are accused of terrorism:



if we defended with full-force our poetic heritage



our national wall our rosy civilization



the culture of flutes in our mountains



and the mirrors displaying blackened eyes.




We are accused of terrorism:



if we defended what we wrote El azure of our sea



and the aroma of ink



if we defended the freedom of the word



and the holiness of books




I am with terrorism



if it is able to free a people from tyrants and tyranny



if it is able to save man from the cruelty of man



to return lemon, olive tree, and bird to the South of Lebanon



and the smile back to Golan




I am with terrorism if it will save me



from the Ceasar of Yehuda and the Ceasar of Rome




I am with terrorism



as long as this new world order is shared



between Amrika and Israel half-half




I am with terrorism with all my poetry



with all my words and all my teeth



as long as this new world is in the hands of a butcher.




I am with terrorism if the U.S. Senate



enacts judgement decrees reward and punishment




I am with Irhab as long this new world order hates the smell of A`rab.




I am with terrorism



as long as the new world order wants to slaughter my off-spring.



and send them to dogs.




For all this



I raise my voice high:



I am with terrorism



I am with terrorism



I am with terrorism ...


Nizar Kabani