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