This amazing poem, which was written by an American friend of mine, shows more feelings towards our quest for freedom and dignity than what some Syrians do.
Syria Must Rise
Poem by J.C. Salazar, Houston, Texas 8/10/2012
This song is for the Syrian people whom I love
The ones I have a bond with and the millions I can’t touch.
It is especially for all the ones whose souls are now above;
The ones who martyred their bodies for a most noble cause
‘Monster’ is too neutral a word for Bashar. It lacks description.
It lacks truth. The horror and the beast of hell that dwells within
The heart of Assad is beyond the grasp of my beleaguered mind
The tyrant, like a devil, sheds his soul if he is to survive.
What kind of godless evil is capable of torturing an Angel?
A boy of two hung from a bridge, purple and bloody, as a warning!
What kind of beast; more evil than a monster, beyond words?
The roomful of the innocents, hands bound and shot point-blank?
And if a poem were a dagger I could use to gash Bashar Al Assad,
A thousand times I would rejoice. For it is he among the list
Of monsters known to this earth who drips in the blood of
Citizens and patriots; and he alone can halt the evil now unleashed.
Enough! Enough! I want to shout each day, each time I see
Another bloody face just snuffed. For it too often is an Angel’s face,
Most beautiful, children, families tortured to a pulp,
Now gone, but still radiant with innocence, and speaking truth
What is that truth it speaks? It is that guilt and shame
Prevail in Damascus, Aleppo – in the court and body of Assad.
The truth that cannot be veiled away even by the ill-gotten
Powers of the Russians or the Chinese godless interests
And where is the U.S.? John McCain speaks, but not enough.
Hillary Clinton chastises the Reds. It’s not enough!
Kofi Annan resigns and points the blame for naught.
United nations, Turkey, Arab league, it’s time, past time, to move!
Oh, how the world stands by in stupor, helpless
To save one Syrian baby from the thug regime
We read instead about the Desert Rose telling
Vogue fashionistas that she will usher in democracy
And empower the children to make future change.
And then Shahrazad Al Jaffari is outed as the PR beauty
Mastermind who swept the truth aside for the Assad she loves.
Will Columbia University leave spread her welcome mat after this news
Because she hooked up Barbara Walters with an interview?
Enough, I say again, at yet another lovely face made horrid,
My Face Book screen presents, and the new massacre.
Oh, the beautiful people of the Syrian state, forsaken and yet strong,
When will my President, the first of Arab name, liberate you?
Enough with the excuses, Mr. Barak Obama; children are dying,
And even one of these pure souls killed is already too many.
The citizen of Syria bleeds red blood just as you do.
Human compassion has no citizenship, no boundaries, no price.
The grand Damascus that gave life to our earliest forefathers
Some 10,000 years BC is entitled to protection evermore,
For all its grandiose history and its capital of region and the world
Or is it right to watch it as it perishes from earth?
Damascus, Arab Capital of Culture, and its 7 million people
Deserve better. Will its 200 mosques survive?
Thank God true, noble Syrians still exist for the Free Syrian Army.
There lies the hope, and there will be the victory we seek.
Can the world stand by idle any longer, after seeing the faces
Of the dead up close? Damascus, she that survived the Ottomans
And Alexander the Great, is on the brink of victory over Assad,
But we must cut short the looming bloodbath yet to come.
Another day, another Angel slaughtered, and I cry.
Another day, now the impossibly handsome face
Of a young father appears on my screen with caption “killed.”
Another day, another heavy day… since March 2011, 20,000 dead
Enough! Enough, Bashar Al Assad! Your time is up!
Call back your vicious dogs of hell, the murdering Shabbiha thugs.
Shame on the Alawites forever, great shame of the Assads
Your father Hafez killed enough for the eternal shame of all Assads.
I sing of you, my beautiful Syrian friends, and your martyrs,
I cry for you, the innocent Angelic children killed for naught.
The end of your torment is near, I feel it, and you shall overcome soon,
You, my friends will know the small relief that dead will exalt.
***
Allah, bless the Syrian people!
***
Poem by: Jose C. Salazar, BA, MS, MA
Director
TRIO- Student Support Services Program
Central College, LHSB
Houston, TX.