When Freedom Arrived

I recited this poem in Detroit/Michigan as I was invited by The Syrian Expatriates organization to attend its conference On the Verge of Transition Saturday, November 19, 2011. The conference was initiated to support the Syrian Revolution for freedom and dignity, and also hosted members of The Syrian National Council

When Freedom arrived

Life returned

By Tarif Youssef Agha

We did not know freedom in my country

We used to hear about it in the media

They were saying that it is beautiful

And that being close to it is a blessing from heaven

And that living without it is a curse

Like living without water and air

We also used to hear about it from the expatriates

Our regime used to classify the expatriates as enemies

The regime always wished they would never return

But if they did, it quarantined them as if they had an epidemic

Forbidding our citizens from traveling abroad was a policy

They used to tell us that all countries outside ours were bad

They also used to tell us that freedom is a shoe invented by the West

It doesn’t fit the hooves of our stupid people

And that the best freedom for us is the one given by our rulers

As our rulers are half Gods, half Prophets

And that their oppression against us is for our benefit

And the fire they use to burn us is a blessing from heaven

And that their drilling (wise) site is always right, even if it drills us

As their eyes are the ones that can see, but ours are blind

They lied to us and isolate us from the rest of the world

They oppressed us, jail us and treated us as if we were servants

But despite all of that, freedom finally arrived here

It stormed like winds, through all barricades and inspectors

The regime didn’t receive it with flowers, didn’t even welcomed it

It was, instead, received by coffins filled with shredded bodies

The regime didn’t cover the streets for it with red carpets

But filled the cities with red lakes

The regime came out to greet it with tanks and cannons

And with hissing and barking security forces and armed thugs

On the other hand, the people who waited long for it, gave it a hug

They gave freedom their sons as proof of love and loyalty

They received it by glorifying and singing songs and anthems

They opened the roads for it with caravans of martyrs

They told it that its place is after God and the Homeland

And that every other claim is not what they believe

They said that the moon without it is pale

And the sun away from it is dark

Humanity loves freedom from the very beginning

But dictators are its worst enemy

To the people, the name of freedom substitutes for life

But it is the most hated name to the rulers

It is their worst nightmare as well

Seeing freedom, to them, is the same as seeing death

As a matter of fact, ordinary death is more favorable to them

Ordinary death takes them quietly while they are in glory, but freedom takes them loudly and in humiliation

Ordinary death takes them in singles, freedom takes them in groups

Dictators don’t know any disaster worst than freedom

They enlarge when it is away, but shrink when it is nearby

To them, it’s the difference between being fulfilled and being miserable

But to the nation, if freedom is taken away

It is as taking away its tongue and leaving it mute

A nation without freedom is a nation that lives in mud

And keeps panting behind its master as puppies do

How many revolutions took place for its sake?

How much did it enrich history and inspire poets?

And here it is today saying to our people ‘Cheer up’

And saying to our rulers ‘Go, as the time of blood in gone’

***

Poetry by: Tarif Youssef-Agha

An expatriate Arab Syrian Writer & Poet

Houston, Texas

Friday, November 18, 2011