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The Dictator & the Pen
A salute to the Syrian genius cartoonist Ali Firzat, who was beaten up by a gang of (government) loyalists in Damascus, Thursday August 25, 2011
By Tarif Youssef Agha
The Cartoons said to the dictator ‘Aren’t you ashamed?’
The Poems said earlier ‘aren’t there limits to your greed?’
The Music also asked him ‘when will the disaster be lifted?’
And the Articles asked him ‘isn’t it about time for you to leave?’
They all asked him ‘did you swear to be the nation’s president,
or to kill the sons of the nation?
To save the peoples’ properties
Or to rob them
It is the free pen that is your worst enemy
You always break it when you fail to own it
The free pen was never your friend at any time
Each one tries to stop the other
The pen uses ink, you use bullets and sticks
He who can not see the difference, must have crossed eyes
The pen is used to document history
The stick exposes its user that he is the worst failure
The pen looks how to add civilization to life
The bullet always looks for death
The pens that you (the dictator) always ride are
More ignorant than illiteracy
Pens whose backs got used to the company of saddles
The brains of their holders are drier than desert
We did never hear you roaring at the enemy
The enemy did never know any better enemy than you
We always heard you roaring at your people
The leader who does that has no understanding of people
We heard you barking like a hyena and cawing like a crow
Never once we heard you neighing like an Arabic horse
Go look at yourself in the mirror and tell me
Whether you saw anyone who was dirtier
If you think the taste of ink is too bitter for you
It is because your injustice is even bitterer to the people
You scarred the face of the past and stole the present
And you killed the dreams of the future
You made the homeland look ugly
The homeland would look more beautiful without you
***
Poetry by: Tarif Youssef-Agha
Houston, Texas
Sunday August 28, 2011
http://sites.google.com/site/tarifspoetry
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