Poetry: Ashraf AboArafe
Blood upon the Tunnel’s Silence !
O Yemen, land where sorrow’s river flows,
Where grief is sown, and night eternal grows.
Thy cities blaze, thy skies are rent with flame,
And war consumes thee, ruthless, without shame.
From Gaza’s walls the cries of anguish rise,
The West Bank groans, beneath unyielding skies.
Damascus weeps, and Lebanon is torn,
While Sana’a bleeds, forsaken and forlorn.
The thunder falls from steel on wings of fire,
And buries hope beneath its funeral pyre.
Thy leaders fallen, shattered is the throne,
Thy pulpit silent, broken, overthrown.
Yet nations gather, cold in word and deed,
No sword they raise, no cure for those who bleed.
They speak in echoes, lifeless as the stone,
While tyrants reap, and widows weep alone.
O land of Arabs, torn by inward strife,
Thy children rend the fabric of their life.
Division deepens, brother turned on brother,
One hand denies the strength that binds the other.
The people cry: “What dawn shall pierce the gloom?
What light shall save us from the hand of doom?”
But Egypt stands, enduring in her place,
A steadfast heart, a mother’s calm embrace.
She bears the burden, heavy, dark, immense,
Her voice, a torch against the night’s offense.
O Egypt, beacon of the ancient flame,
Thy name resounds, thy light shall still remain.
Peace unto Gaza—never shall she yield,
But bows to God alone upon the field.
Peace to the martyr, brave in crimson shroud,
Who lifts his vow to freedom, clear and loud.
Perhaps one dawn, though distant yet it be,
Shall break these chains, and set the nations free.
O Lord, whose mercy rules the earth and sea,
Grant strength, and crown their morning’s victory.
