Live with Dignity
By Tarif Youssef Agha
Live with dignity, as humiliation is bitter,
And speak up, as the free can’t be bridled
He who agrees to live under the boot,
Should know that, one day, he will be smashed
Pigs don’t feel happy, but in dirt,
And slaves don’t learn, but with a stick
But the eagles live to soar high,
No one knows the summits of mountains better than them
Those who trust dictators to draw their future,
Should know that dictators don’t draw, but with blood
I swear to those who accept to live in disgrace,
That disgrace, one day, will turn fatal
Live with dignity, and tell the dictator that he is a liar,
Tell him that every time he claims he is acting out of inspiration
And if he claims that he is a Prophet with a Message,
Tell him that criminals don’t receive Prophecies
Neither people who are compared to Nero of Rome,
Nor those who are in love with drinking blood
Don’t anger the people, as if they rise,
They will make epics for the sake of freedom
In the time of revolution, the people become a volcano,
But in the time of peace, they become a gold mine
If they demonstrate, showing their teeth,
Then be sure that they, like lions, are not smiling
And if they crowded the squares, thundering,
Then be sure that the time to lament the dictator is near
It is the day when injustice will go away,
And, also, the day when the dictator will face justice
***
A Poem translation
(Can be shared without permission)
By Tarif Youssef-Agha
An Expatriate Arab Syrian Writer & Poet
Member of the ‘Syrian Revolutionary Writers Assembly’
Friday May 20, 2016, Houston, Texas
http://sites.google.com/site/tarifspoetry