An End – to – Empire
There is no end in sight to/ this endless night./ No end to the death of children./ They die singly and in multitudes/ in languages such as Arabic, Mayan, Malay, Irish, Tibetan, Palestinian,/ Kurdish…/ They die in poverty while the / powerful climb higher and higher/ on their mountains of greed / and garbage
1
The sirens of fire and fury
still wake my sleep each night.
The screams of dying children
walk legless and armless
through my desperate dreams.
i pace endless corridors
in search of peace
but still the empire grows, it
spreads like a greedy virus, it copulates,
conspires, plots and poisons,
it invades, “intervenes”, metastasizes
like a cancer,
it crosses borders and boundaries
and the blood-brain-barrier of predators
and fools
it marches to the mindless
laughter of drunkards and arms-dealers,
the polished scheming of corporations
and the lying promises of politicians.
2.
There is no end in sight to
this endless night.
No end to the death of children.
They die singly and in multitudes
in languages such as Arabic, Mayan, Malay, Irish, Tibetan, Palestinian,
Kurdish…
They die in poverty while the
powerful climb higher and higher
on their mountains of greed
and garbage.
Whole forests fall in front of their marching feet.
3.
These voices that haunt the dark
tell me there is no end.
But i believe in an end.
i believe in the end to Empire.
i believe in an end to the greedy rutting
of emperors and tyrants.
To dynasties and darkness.
i believe in the end of Führers and fanatics,
of ayatollahs, crown princes, kings and dictators.
i believe in an end to lies and liars
the propaganda of power and profit
i believe an end will come
i believe it all will be possible…
4.
So i see you there, nameless and stateless
without property or passport
way, way, so very far ahead,
when the evening is soft and warm
and the sun has settled nicely on its edge
and there is time for thought
and decency
and your people have found a map
hidden in this grim graveyard
where empires are buried deeper
than the darkness of their lies and propaganda
far far beyond the blood and brutality
of the ones it still feeds on
after a thousand years.
séamas carraher
5 – 23, december 2024
IMAGE
“Palestinian girl surviving an Israeli airstrike targeting her house in Gaza Strip wonders where her family are…” Times of Gaza, November 6, 2023 (screenshot-fair-use)
Video posted by – For a Culture of Liberation (November 2023)
NOTES
An End (to Empire)?
Wikipedia / Democratic Confederalism
“They die…
in languages…”
Muted-tongues-a-timeline-of-suppressed-languages
Other Voices
“All the world are with us, not with you” – “Go From My Land”
“Who will protect the Land
if or dignity dies..?
…and will the silence of millions
help..”
Gaza girl recites poem
“Poems become a voice…for those who can’t speak…”
Voices of Gaza: Palestinian child expresses struggles through poetry
Dareen Tatour
Resist, My People, Resist Them
Resist, my people, resist them.
In Jerusalem, I dressed my wounds and breathed my sorrows
And carried the soul in my palm
For an Arab Palestine.
I will not succumb to the “peaceful solution,”
Never lower my flags
Until I evict them from my land.
I cast them aside for a coming time.
Resist, my people, resist them.
Resist the settler’s robbery
And follow the caravan of martyrs.
Shred the disgraceful constitution
Which imposed degradation and humiliation
And deterred us from restoring justice.
They burned blameless children;
As for Hadil, they sniped her in public,
Killed her in broad daylight.
Resist, my people, resist them.
Resist the colonialist’s onslaught.
Pay no mind to his agents among us
Who chain us with the peaceful illusion.
Do not fear doubtful tongues;
The truth in your heart is stronger,
As long as you resist in a land
That has lived through raids and victory.
So Ali called from his grave:
Resist, my rebellious people.
Write me as prose on the agarwood;
My remains have you as a response.
Resist, my people, resist them.
Resist, my people, resist them.
Dareen Tatour Reading – November 2015
Arablit – the poem for which Dareen Tatour’s under house arrest
Global Rights – Dareen Tatour Released
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