The Thief and The Ugly

I wrote his poem in the common Arabic language as a gift from my heart and conscious to the Tunisian people, especially for the Poetry Event and Mourning Dinner, Sunday September 18, 2011 in the Arab American Cultural Center, Houston, Texas, along with other poems honoring the martyrs of the revolutions in Palestine, Egypt, Yemen, Libya and Syria.

The Thief and the Ugly

Birds of a feather flock together

They fooled her by the over-complement

They fooled him by calling him Zain Al-Abedeen (the best of men)

As she is no body but a low class; who is even ugly

And he is no body but the head of thieves

The hair dresser of Carthage was uncovered as a venomous snake

Her husband became “the best of escapers”

She came from painting faces and dyeing hair

He came from the dirty group of the corrupted military

The student of Dalila (a famous female thief) thought she was a ‘Saint’

The student of Al-Zaibaq (a famous thief) thought he was the ‘Caliph of all Believers’

She knows nothing but deceiving rich husbands

Even if she leaves the children missing their dads

He spent fifty years of his life living like a prince

Whereas most of the people are hungry and suffering

They, both, rob Tunisia the Green, so it became a desert

God responded to the oppressed by their (the ruler & wife) departure

Bad bread that can never be good

They did not read the history; even history is the best adviser

Their time was a time of theft and lies

Their men burned and kept the people apart

Al-Bouzeezi’s flame would look better on them

They are worse than Satan

They belong to a race that has no mercy, but knows well how to bark

If such people hijack the authority, go join the revolution!

After all, justice gives chances, but doesn’t neglect

I don’t understand how bad people think they can run away?

***

Poetry by: Tarif Youssef-Agha

Houston, Texas

September 2011

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