Palestine

Two Poems and a Song

I
LULLABY FOR A PALESTINIAN CHILD

Faiz Ahmed Faiz

Don’t cry child,
your mommy has only
just cried herself to sleep.

Don’t cry child,
just a while ago
your daddy took leave
of all his sorrows.

Don’t cry child,
your brother has gone
to another land chasing
after his butterfly dreams.

Don’t cry child,
your sister has married
and left for another country.

Don’t cry child,
in your courtyard
they bathed the dead sun,
and buried the moon,
before leaving.

Don’t cry child,
if you cry,
mommy, daddy, sister, brother,
the moon and the sun, all
will have you made even weepier.

But maybe if you smile,
they will one day all return
in a different guise
to play with you.

(1980)

II
GAZA UNDER THE BOMBS

El Hachmi Rhrissi

In an open-air prison
Facing the world
With rocket launchers
It defies the U.S. F16
With automatic rifles
It resists U.S. tanks

The world turns to Tehran while it is Gaza which is under siege
And it talks of “balance” between the murderer and the victim
And it puts in the scales of the balance forty on one and a thousand on each scale
For Palestinians and Zionists do not have the same book
The Zionists were a people without land
And today the Palestinians are losing their land
And they also lose their skins for their land
Alone in the world, while people are on vacation

It is true that one must believe in Gaza to know and report the situation
The explosions of tons of bombs thrown on Gaza at random
Followed by intense fires in Gaza
The black smoke polluting the air in Gaza
And the smell of death spreading everywhere
Homes, schools, hospitals being bombarded
From all directions, by air, by land and from the sea
And the Palestinians resisting. This has been their fate since 1948

Alone in the world, while people are on vacation
Nine years of blockade imposed on Gaza by the occupant
And Gaza still stands and resists!

I salute you, Gaza, the white, and I salute the Palestinians inhabitants of Gaza
If the United States turns to Tehran, I am turning to Palestine
Country of martyrs who prefer to die resisting than submit
I salute Palestine and its resistance to the United States
Hope has no frontiers, and Resistance shall overcome!

The social movement of peoples is growing!
Palestine feels less alone!
And the Palestinian Revolution will triumph!

Translated from the French by Antonio Artuso.

Source: http://www.annahjaddimocrati.org/index.php/fr/accueil-fr/97-actualitees/divers-evenements/3865-ghaza-sous-les-bombes


III
SONG FOR THE UNITY OF THE ARAB PEOPLE

Interpreted by Julia Boutros

Where? Where? Where?
Where? Where? Where?
Where are the millions of Arabs?
Where is the Arab people?
Where is the Arab wrath?
Where is the Arab honour?

We are within our rights
We are the revolution
And they are the friends of the Elephant*

We are the generation of Right
And the generation of the Revolution
The Ababil birds*

* The Ababil were a mythological race of birds, mentioned in the Quran, that protected Mecca from the Yemeni army by dropping red clay bricks on the Yemen elephants as they approached. This was, according to the Quran, done in 571, the year that Muhammad was born.

One must throw stones
Stones of fire

One must not bow
Nor fall, nor surrender

What we have in our hearts
Is stronger than their armour
Our revolution will not weaken
And we will return to our land

What we have in our hearts
Is stronger than their armour
In my chest is a weapon warehouse
And I ask myself where have my Arab brothers vanished?

Where? Where? Where?
Where? Where? Where?
Where are the millions of Arabs?
Where is the Arab people?
Where is the Arab wrath?
Where is the Arab honour?

God is with us
Stronger and greater than the Zionists
They massacre, they kill
We shall win

Our revolution will not weaken
And we will return to our land
The revolution is our motto.
Stronger than the mountains
More numerous than the grains of sand

What we have in our hearts
Is stronger than their armour
Revolution is our motto

In the prisons we sing
Our Martyrs are alive
Although we are imprisoned
We go on fighting
We do not surrender

What we have in our hearts
Is stronger than their armour
In my chest is a weapon warehouse
And I ask myself
Where have our Arab brothers vanished?

Our revolution will not weaken
And we will return to our land

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9v3r8S47aY&feature=share

Note: Written at the last part of the video-clip:

Julia Boutros is Lebanese. She is of Maronite Christian faith. Her mother is an Armenian Christian, born in Palestine. She deserves much more respect than all of the Muslim dictators, who are bowing to the Zionists.

By supporting the Arab revolution, you support the Palestinian Cause.

Long live the Arab Democratic Revolution! Down with the dictators and their policies of servility to Zionists!

Translated from the French by Antonio Artuso

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