Oh Syria, it's been so long

Oh Syria, it’s been so long

By Tarif Youssef Agha

Oh Syria, listen to me, it’s been so long,

My heart has been broken and my tears have dried over your pain

The whole world has turned against you,

Your destiny is to confront the whole world

The Persians from the east and the Russians and the Westerners,

Every one wants to see your blood be shed

Your fault is that you are neighboring Israel,

And that is why they want you to swallow the humiliation

Tell them that you will not drink from these cups,

And that you will cut the hands of the traitors and aggressors

Your sole choice is the path of arms,

And to send your heroes to fight

With persistence and solid will you can accomplish the impossible,

With them, you can defeat the whole world

If you start a revolution, don’t stop,

And if you rise for Freedom, don’t quit before you take it

Don’t accept anything less than the Constitution,

And don’t agree to give up Dignity

We have had enough of worshiping individuals and treating them as gods,

If any one asks you to do so, step on him fast

We want to practice politics in the voting centers,

And to practice religion in the mosques and churches

Oh Syria, we don’t agree to see you as less than a lighthouse for Dignity,

And we don’t want to see you on any throne but the throne of Freedom

***

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 January 15, 2016, Houston, Texas

http://sites.google.com/site/tarifspoetry