We
are accused of terrorism
Nizar Qabani
We are accused of
terrorism:
If we defended rose
and woman and the mighty verse ... and the blueness of sky ... A dominion .. nothing left therein...
no water, no air .. no tent, no camel, and not even
dark Arabica coffee!!
We are accused of
terrorism:
If we defended with
guts the hair of
Balqis and the lips
of Maysun if we defended Hind, and Da`d, Lubna and Rabab ..
and the stream of Kohl
coming down from their lashes like the verses of revelation.
You will not find
with me a secret poem or a secret logos or books I put behind doors. I do not
even have one Qasidah walking down the street, wearing Hijab.
We are accused of
terrorism:
If we wrote about
the ruins of a watan torn, weak ... a watan with no address and an ummah with
no names. I seek the remnants of a watan none of its grand poems is left
except the bemoans of Khansa. I seek a dominion in
whose horizons no freedom can be found …red .. blue
… yellow.
A watan forbidding
us from buying a newspaper or listening to the news.
A dominion wherein
birds are forbidden from chirping. A watan wherein, out of
terror, its writers got accustomed to write about nothing.
A watan, in the
likeness of poetry in our lands: It is vain talk, no rhythm, imported Ajam,
with a crooked face and tongue: No beginning, No end, No relation with people's
worry,
mother earth, and the
crisis of man.
A dominion ...
going to peace talks with no honor… no shoe.
A watan, men
pissing in their pants .. women
are those left to defend honor.
Salt in our eyes ..Salt in our lips ..Salt in
our words
Can the self carry
such dryness?
An inheritance we
got from the barren Qahtan?
In our Ummah, no
Mu`awiya, and no Abu Sufiyan. No one is left to say "NO"
and face the quitters
they gave up our houses, our bread and our olive oil. They transformed our
bright history into a mediocre store.
In our lives, no
Qasidah is left, since we lost our chastity in the bed of the Sultan. They got
accustomed to us, the humbled.
What is left to man
when all that remains is disgrace.
I seek in the books
of history Ussamah ibn al-Munqith, Uqba ibn Nafi, Omar, and Hamzah and Khalid,
driving his flocks conquering the Shem. I seek a Mu`tasim Billah Saving women
from the cruelty of rape and the fire.
I seek latter day’s men,
all I can see is
frightened cats Scared for their own souls,
from the sultanship of
mice.
Is this an
overwhelming national blindness?
Are we blind to
colors?
We are accused of
terrorism:
If we refuse to die
with
tearing our Evangelism …tearing our Quran …tearing the graves of our prophets
If this was our sin, …then,
lo, how beautiful terrorism is?
We are accused of
terrorism:
If we refused to be
effaced by the hands of the Mogul, Jews and Barbarians
if we throw a stone
at the glass of the Security Council after the Caesar of Caesars got a hold of
it.
We are accused of
terrorism
If we refuse to
negotiate with the wolf and shake the hand with a whore
We are accused of
terrorism: if we refused an era when
We are accused of
terrorism: if we throw a rose… to
We are accused of
terrorism:
If we raised our
voices against the regionalists of our leaders.
All changed their
rides: from Unionists to Brokers.
If we committed the
heinous crime of culture
If we revolted
against the orders of the grand caliph and the seat of the caliphate
If we read
jurisprudence or politics If we recalled God and read
If we listened to the
Khutba then we are well-established in the art of
terrorism
We are accused of
terrorism:
If we defended land
and the honor of dust if we revolted against the rape of people and our rape if
we defended the last palm trees in our desert the last stars in our sky the
last syllabi of our names the last milk in our mothers' bosoms if this was our
sin how beautiful is terrorism.
I am with terrorism:
If it is able to
save me from the immigrants from Russia Romania,
They settled in
and the door of Aqsa
to steal the arabesques and the domes.
I am with terrorism:
If it will free the
Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth, and the virgin, Miriam Betula and the holy city
from the ambassadors of death and desolation
Yesteryear the
nationalist street was fervent like a wild horse. The rivers were abundant with
the spirit of youth.
But after
We are accused of
terrorism:
If we defended with
full-force our poetic heritage
our national wall our
rosy civilization, the culture of flutes in our mountains
the mirrors displaying
blackened eyes.
We are accused of
terrorism:
If we defended what
we wrote
El azure of our sea
and the aroma of ink
if we defended the
freedom of the word
and the holiness of
books
I am with terrorism:
If it is able to
free a people from tyrants and tyranny if it is able to save man from the
cruelty of man to return lemon, olive tree, and bird to the South of Lebanon
and the smile back to Golan
I am with terrorism:
If it will save me
from the Caesar of Yehuda and the Caesar of Rome
I am with terrorism:
As long as this new
world order is shared between
I am with terrorism:
With all my poetry
with all my words and all my teeth as long as this new world is in the hands of
a butcher.
I am with terrorism:
If the U.S. Senate
enacts judgment decrees reward and punishment
I am with Irhab …terrorism:
as long this new
world order hates the smell of A`rab.
I am with terrorism:
As long as the new
world order wants to slaughter my off-spring.
and send them to dogs.
For all this...I
raise my voice high:
I am with terrorism
…I am with terrorism
…I am with terrorism
…