MY CHILD

 

My child is wrapped in a white sheet

Lifeless

My eyes are streaming with tears

Endless

My heart is devastated with grief

Immeasurable

My lips kiss her forehead again

Demoralized

My arms hold her tight to my chest

Bewildered

My body is devoid of strength

lethargic 

My cries shout out in anger

Dumbfounded

My mind is perplexed

Incomprehensible 

SIXTY-SEVEN YEARS

Sixty-seven years of occupation and oppression  

Sixty-seven years of confiscation and colonization
Sixty-seven years of destabilization and devastation
Sixty-seven years of dehumanization and deprivation
Sixty-seven years of peace plans and pieces of lands
Sixty-seven years of road blocks and land locks
Sixty-seven years of un-stabilization and un-justification
Sixty-seven years of imprisonment and impoverishment

Sixty-seven years of terrorizing and traumatizing

Sixty-seven years of exiling and expunging

Sixty-seven years of erecting and eradicating

Sixty-seven years of antagonizing and annihilating

Sixty-seven years of segregation and separation  

 Sixty-seven years of UN resolutions and UN reports

Sixty-seven years of abandonment and abomination

Sixty-seven years of uprooting and uprising

Sixty-seven years of refugees and re-imprisonment

Sixty-seven years of prisoner exchanges and promises exasperated

Sixty-seven years of US backing and US double standards

Sixty-seven years of UN veto and UN violations

Sixty-seven years of diplomacy shuffling and diplomatic failures

Sixty-seven years of promised hopes and promises commandeered

Sixty-seven years of terrorizing assaults and tumultuous  assassinations

Sixty-seven years of  horrifying  remembrances and holocaustic reverberations  

Sixty-seven years of status quo appeasement and structured apartheid 

Crying Out From My Roots

I am an olive tree in the spring

I have come through another winter

The rainy season has made my buds spring forth

My leaves will come next as my vegetation develops

I will continue to grow in the summer

As my harvest reenergizes me in the fall

My greenery dots the landscape

My olive skin is imbedded in my people

My olive oil flows through their veins

I am the agricultural epicenter of Palestine

I am a symbol of Palestinian steadfastness

My oil brings forth health benefits

The first olive pressing makes me extra virgin

Making me a friend of a healthy heart

Those who drink my oil have longevity

My oil is known to block the generation of cancerous tissue

Cooking with my oil is better for you

Those who know zeit wa zatar have cherished me for years

My roots are deep within the soil of the Holy Land of Palestine

My years have turned into centuries

The sun, the rain and the soil are my best friends

I belong to the land

And the land belongs to me

Why would anyone want to destroy me?

I have only benefited mankind

What have I done to cause my uprooting?

I am the oil of Palestine

My branches have survived emperors, conquerors and world wars

My trunks have survived droughts, floods, invasions and war

But I cannot survive the Apartheid Israeli occupation

I cannot survive the Apartheid Israeli settlers

My branches are being slaughtered

My trunks are being massacred

The victims of genocide are committing genocide upon me

The victims of genocide are committing genocide upon my owners

My roots cry out for justice

My roots cry out for understanding

My roots cry out for steadfastness

My roots cry out for education

My roots cry out for intervention

My roots cry out for peace

                Fadi Zanayed

                March 8, 2012

                7:32 am

Fearing A Child’s Mind

A Palestinian child sits on the curb

Surrounded by no less than 4 Apartheid Israeli soldiers

Their rifles pointed at him

He is looking up at them with bewilderment

Yet courage is not far from his structure

His eyes question his detention

Yet fear is not projected

His hands are hidden

Maybe a rock is in his hand

Are the Apartheid Israeli Soldiers in fear?

In fear of a rock in his hand

Or are they afraid of what is brewing inside his mind

-Fadi Zanayed

February 27, 2012

6:29 pm - Chicago

(© Copyright, Fadi Zanayed.  Publication or distribution of this material is allowed provided its content is not altered and the source and its author are cited.)

Flocks

A storm approaches

From where I do not know

The thunder is loud

The lighting lights up the sky

                Flocks of birds

                At different altitudes

                Are flying in and

                About the storm

                                At a high altitude

                                There is a distressed flock

                                Being battered by bolts of lighting

                                Yet they continue to fly directly into the storm

At a much lower level

A determined flock fly close to the earth

Hail strikes at their wings

Yet they continue in defiance

                Above the clouds

                There is an overstocked flock

                They fly in every direction

                Unconcerned with anything around them

                                Closely in front of the storm

                                There is a healthier flock

                                A few try to fly back but are unsuccessful

                                The others do not even bother




(  © Copyright, Fadi Zanayed.  Publication or distribution of this material is allowed provided its content is not altered and the source and its author are cited.)

Fly Bird Fly

Picture Credit:  https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150253161370814&set=a.10150253142165814.321090.524025813&type=3&l=e4ffae0bcc&theater

Whistle in the night

Somber moment without light

I welcome the song of the bird

For days the only sound I’ve heard

The song of freedom chirping in the air

Ironically I am a prisoner of despair

Fly bird fly in support of those who care for you

Go and fight for what we are due

Prosper mentally in our cause

Become a leader who knows when to pause

Build conviction, honor and determination

Build democracy into a nation

Fly bird fly letting your wings stretch across the sky

Encompass within your wings all within our pie

The whole without all its sum is but a part

Be a leader who is brave and smart

Build a consensus while respecting the call

The call to honor and respect for us all

My captors have brought supper for me to eat

Stay and feast before the duty you have to meet

Whistle in the night

Then I’ll know your path is right

Remember me as I linger in jail

Rescue me before I grow old and frail

I will be with you night and day

I am your conscience in the words you say

Bless the children who throw the stone

It is in their eyes that we see what we own

Condemn the hypocrisy of those who occupy

They see not the history of why they cry

Be good, self-righteous and fair

People will listen over the air

Neither harm nor be harmed in the course you take

Rather set your mark and plant your stake

For here is the line you must draw

While respecting international law

The world will then see us within our right

Using civil disobedience not our might

Fly bird fly letting your energy soar

Free me to Palestine once more

           Fadi Zanayed


(  © Copyright, Fadi Zanayed.  Publication or distribution of this material is allowed provided its content is not altered and the source and its author are cited.)

The Olive Tree Howls For Justice

See the Palestinian lady hugging a tree

Not just any tree but an olive tree

See the olive branches cut to the ground

As an Israeli soldiers stand around

See the bulldozer which did the massacre

The massacre of an olive tree acre 

Listen to the agony coming from her face

As the soldiers stand in disgrace

Listen to the tree as it stretches out its arms

As if it is calling out to God to see the harms

Listen to the wind as it blows in the sky

Howling injustice my oh my!

Fadi Zanayed

December 8, 2011

1:45 pm CT

(  © Copyright, Fadi Zanayed.  Publication or distribution of this material is allowed provided its content is not altered and the source and its author are cited.)