Intifada

The land of Palestine shook
until the very stones loosened

and were gathered up by you
as other children, innocent, have picked flowers

Your rocks blossomed blood-red
against a conspiracy of years
of having every breath, heartbeat observed constrained
until you could not breathe, every gasp a battle

The way you suffocate under a veil
of teargas, chambers of death
your own homes, streets, gardens

You said you have had enough
and started an earthquake
drawing down a shower of hailstones
against a sinful nation

The occupation officers have hit a stone, been struck
by the steadfast hardness
of a people willing
to die on their feet
rather than live on their knees

You love your lives enough
to struggle against the constraints
bound, as you have been
all your lives

You are loosening the bonds now
casting off what has kept you down
you are bound for glory
shaking, shaking until you are free.

Children Bearing Rocks by Nizar Qabbani

With stones in their hands,
they defy the world
and come to us like good tidings
They burst with anger and love, and they fall
while we remain a herd of polar bears:
a body armored against weather.

Like mussels we sit in cafes,
one hunts for a business venture
one for another billion
and a fourth wife
and breasts polished by civilization.
One stalks London for a lofty mansion
one traffics in arms
one seeks revenge in nightclubs
one plots for a throne, a private army,
and princedom.

Ah, generation of betrayal,
of surrogate amd indecent men,
generations of leftovers,
we'll be swept away
never mind the slow pace of history
by the children bearing rocks
in my shoes.