The 'School' of Syria

The ‘School’ of Syria

By Tarif Youssef Agha

They asked Syria “what is that noise”? And Syria said

“I’m teaching another dictator a lesson

I’m reminding him that I saw many who were like him

All of them ended under my feet

Each one of them thought that he came to teach me

He who carries sin doesn’t preach purity

He thought that if I keep silent for a while

It means that I’m a mute nation

He forgot that staying silent doesn’t mean weakness

The one who forgets that may pay the price with his life

Today’s dictator brought with him to the lesson

All my enemies; the Zionists, the Russians and the Persians

And both the East and the west together allied with him

He thought that my master is the one who can be tougher

But every dictator who came to my school in the morning

Ended in a graveyard by the evening

I walked in the funeral of every dictator who ruled me

Then came back to tell the same story

Every dictator refuses to leave peacefully

But only after he burns the country and parties with death

They come on the top of tanks

But when they leave, they leave under the tracks of the tanks

They come and rule under the cover of darkness

But they leave when the sun arrives”

***

Poem translation

Tarif Youssef-Agha

An Expatriate Arab Syrian Writer & Poet

Member of the ‘Syrian Revolutionary Writers Assembly’

Houston, Texas

Friday October 12, 2012

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