A Song for My Land

I am neither a singer nor a rapper,
but loving my land makes me sing.

I sing to my far land,
in which my dreams grew.
I sing to the land that gave me patience,
that gave me bravery,
that planted love into me,
which became high green trees,
reaching the skies of other hearts.

I sing to the land where love lives,
with hate trying to replace it.

I sing to my land,
that I long night after night,
song after song,
curse after curse,
tear after tear,
nightmare after another.

I sing to my land,
where I lost friends and family,
where good people die, not of hunger,
but of oppression,
where good and bad exist,
where easy gets complex,
where stories are narrated by silence,
voices are heard from dead,
and decisions are made by foolish.

I sing to my land,
where infants are born political,
and their worrying about their futures becomes their toys.

I sing to the land,
where brains are washed with fear,
where farms are separated with walls,
where people split with destruction,
where hearts divided with revenge.

I will still sing to Palestine,
for what it gave me,
and for what it took from me!

Mohammed S Arafat
08-14-2020