Al-Shareh woke up from his cave
Even though Farouq Al-Shareh, Assad’s Vice-president, has not been seen in public since last summer and his real fate is still mysterious, the regime revealed news a few days ago that the man was interviewed by a Lebanese pro-Syrian newspaper. An interview in which he urged the military opposition to stop fighting and come to talk with the regime which is ready (now) to give what he called ‘An Historic Settlement’
Al-Shareh woke up from his cave
Al-Shareh woke up from his cave where
He found the people were different, and so the world was
He found bullets hitting like heavy rain
And rising people demanding freedom
He asked for permission and refreshed his brain
And gave an interview to a Lebanese-Assad newspaper
He said that the (Syrian) conflict can’t be solved from outside
It neither can be won militarily
And that it shouldn’t be a matter of an individual or a regime
It should be a matter of the existence of Syria
He invited the rebels to the dialogue table
And promised them with compromises and ‘An Historic Settlement’
I would like to tell Al-Shareh, if he is still alive
No, the Free (Syrian) Army won’t negotiate with a snake
You (the regime) said “Either Assad or, we burn the country”
How come after you burned it you care about it?
Now, after you slaughtered, raped and tortured
You remembered to worry about it?
Oh Farouq, the time of dialogue is over
It was still possible before the incident of the children of the brave city of Darra
Before the massacres of the towns of Al-Hulah, Al-Qubbair and Daraia
And before your destruction of the heroic city of Homs
We all know that Syria has been destroyed many times through history
That it was burned many times by herds of invaders and dictators
But, also, that it was rebuilt again and became even more beautiful
And the mothers gave birth all over again so the population came back
The only ones who never came back were the invaders and the dictators
Our ancestors talked with them with the sharp swords of our Syria
So the Free Army is coming to talk with you, as you requested
But it will do so with the canon and the Kalashnikov
The Free Army will bring you heroes who love to die as martyrs
The same way you love to live as criminals and thieves
How come they believed they were good enough to rule our people?
A nation which fears God can’t be scared by human monsters
They killed themselves like what Barakesh* did (*a proverb about a female dog)
That is if they really understand the Arabic proverbs?
Oh Farouq, don’t feel bad as everyone knows that
Your value to them is not even equal to a fraction of a bullet
Tomorrow is not too far away
Tomorrow, the word of the revolution will be the highest
***
A Poem translation
Tarif Youssef-Agha
An Expatriate Arab Syrian Writer & Poet
Member of the ‘Syrian Revolutionary Writers Assembly’
Friday December 21, 2012
Houston, Texas
http://sites.google.com/site/tarifspoetry