Troubled Paradise

It’s been quite a while since I’ve posted on here. Life has been a whirlwind of stress and work, though productive at least. Amid the current crisis in Gaza I felt compelled to share a poetry piece from my forthcoming book that I had written months ago and despite the book not yet being finished, I thought it would be an appropriate time to share with you. Our voices are our weapons and our words are our bullets. Don’t ever be afraid to speak up against injustice.

Troubled Paradise

I had learned at an early age that not everyone is pure with their intentions, I’ve been exposed to violence since I was a child, with the simple tap of an iPhone. Videos of bombings, hangings, the destruction of societies by merciless demons, fueled by greed and hate. 

Coming to America has never been easy for people like me, and I’ve been told stories filled with cruelty and bloodshed that left the rivers of Baghdad running red. Entire family lineages in the Middle East - bombed out of existence. 

Mercy does not exist where we come from. 

It’s been years and I’m maddened with rage and unrest. Unable to endure the mundane tasks of daily life. More innocence lost. Another missile flying to its futile fate. Another protest. More lives lost due to famine and disease. From Palestine to Yemen. 

There is a particularly potent form of pain and frustration when you cannot save those who are trapped within the claws of evil. Our phone screens seep with blood from thousands of miles away. Day after day.

But there’s a growing resistance. Bigger than anything that I’ve seen before. Pulsing, circulating, spreading through each country line. The truth refuses to be hidden any longer. The masses are rising against the systems of oppression. Every closed eye has awakened.  An accelerating momentum of power is building, demanding justice for every life lost, every dream shattered. 

Those martyred have not been killed in vain. With the strength and tenacity of every person, we will bring justice and an end to apartheid, occupation, oppression, and genocide. The tides will turn and liberation will ring like bells across our lands. No longer victims to a blood hungry war machine. 

I used to think that I did not have the power as one person to make an impact. But my voice has never been louder, my rage has never been more wilder, marching in line with hundreds of thousands of people who may have thought they didn’t possess their own power. 

But we’re here. We’re resisting and we refuse to back down until liberation is granted, and a new era will be born.