Oh Syria, what a pride

Oh Syria, what a pride

By Tarif Youssef Agha

Oh Syria, all that I know about you is

That you are the address for national pride

I never knew you to sleep with humiliation

You are the master of dignity and bravery

Anyone who didn't hear the thunder of your glories

Must be deaf

Every time armies invaded you

You sent them back after coloring them with blood

Every time thugs ruled you

You made them drink from the cup of regret

You mopped the floor with them

And kicked them from one foot to the other

Every time a ruler shoots you with an arrow of injustice

You respond to him with lava

Every time a ruler thinks he is bigger than you

He discovers he is a dwarf and son of a dwarf

In wars, you do not lack spears

But in peace, you write civilization with ink

In revolutions, you have swords that forgot their scabbards

And men who swore not to break an oath

These are your habits how to deal with invaders and dictators

Never changed in the past or present

You made a lesson out of them

They all fell, but you still possess the top

***

Tarif Youssef-Agha

An Expatriate Arab Syrian Writer & Poet

Member of the ‘Syrian Revolutionary Writers Assembly’

Houston, Texas

Friday November 9, 2012