447
views
0
recommends
+1 Recommend
1 collections
    1
    shares

      If you have found this article useful and you think it is important that researchers across the world have access, please consider donating, to ensure that this valuable collection remains Open Access.

      Arab Studies Quarterly is published by Pluto Journals, an Open Access publisher. This means that everyone has free and unlimited access to the full-text of all articles from our international collection of social science journalsFurthermore Pluto Journals authors don’t pay article processing charges (APCs).

      scite_
       
      • Record: found
      • Abstract: found
      • Article: found
      Is Open Access

      Poems

      Published
      other
      Arab Studies Quarterly
      Pluto Journals
      Bookmark

            Main article text

            When Mothers Cry

            When Mothers Cry

            For homes

            Blasted, bulldozed and destroyed

            When Mothers Cry

            For crops

            Burnt or sewered

            When Mothers Cry

            For shade and fruits

            Of trees pulled up at roots

            When Mothers Cry

            For thirst induced

            By wells blocked

            When Mothers Cry

            For family members

            Murdered or maimed

            When Mothers Cry

            For their young

            Imprisoned and tortured

            When Mothers Cry

            For even babies

            Burnt and bombed

            In Palestine Mothers weep

            Their misery paid for

            With tax dollars

            Crimes against them

            By a foreign occupation

            People’s parents born elsewhere

            Such is the price

            Of religious perversions

            Satisfying feelings of

            Latent crusadic revenge

            Many are smirking

            Patting each other on the back

            We hear only sinful silence

            Or lies to shield evil

            Even Angels sorrow

            Prompted by despair

            For what is happening

            Happening right now

            The Mothers’ Cries

            Become accepted prayers

            Pleas for mercy

            Curses on the brutal

            From their lips

            To God’s ears

            When Mothers Cry …

            … beware!

            You can fail at everything

            Your marriage, your career

            Your wealth, your health

            Do not lose your self-respect

            Do not fail at being a human!

            When mothers cry

            Open your ears!

            Copyright

            @ Sher Chandley

            2020/07/01

            Artwork picture credit: @ Copyright JEHAD—JEHAD ALL GHOUL ART

            JEHAD AL GHOUL is a Palestinian artist and activist from Gaza, Palestine

            This child has no comprehension yet of the wars of politics and religion or what an arms dealer is; he doesn’t know the bankers that fund them or the governments whose national interests affect him—but is a suffering product of all of them. He doesn’t know us or our opinions. We allowed this.

            Born To Die

            I was born yesterday

            I know nothing

            Only suffering

            Don’t yet comprehend

            What’s happening

            The cruelty

            Of a callous world

            In my ears

            Sounds of war

            In my sight

            Visions of destruction

            Famine and disease

            Surround me

            To me

            This is natural

            My eyes are shaded

            With death

            My body broken

            With hunger

            Every day I see

            Those who smite all

            Those who break all

            Those who loot all

            It’s the life I know

            I cannot comprehend

            The who

            The what

            The why

            I was born yesterday

            I was born to die.

            Copyright

            @ Sher Chandley

            2019/11/16

            Author and article information

            Contributors
            Journal
            10.13169/arabstudquar
            Arab Studies Quarterly
            ASQ
            Pluto Journals
            2043-6920
            4 November 2022
            1 January 2022
            : 44
            : 3-4
            : 123-125
            Affiliations
            [1-arabstudquar.44.3-4.0123]A South African poet and revolutionary who participated in African liberation struggles
            Article
            10.13169/arabstudquar.44.3-4.0123
            bf6bb5a3-588a-4b0d-9f79-508234560d47
            © 2022 Sher Chandley

            All content is freely available without charge to users or their institutions. Users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles in this journal without asking prior permission of the publisher or the author. Articles published in the journal are distributed under a http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

            History
            Page count
            Pages: 3
            Categories
            Poems

            Social & Behavioral Sciences

            Comments

            Comment on this article