Gaza 2009

2009, when the new year came,
Peace we had hope for but war played its game,
Roar of the canon, destruction and death,
All on the small screen so the world held its breath.
Massive bombardment and killings that spared
Neither infants nor old, for age no one cared.
Poor people of Gaza long camped in a place
Where one million people try to find space,
A strip on the coast, all sterile and bare,
Crowded, besieged, nothing human is there.
Once Gaza did reign as a Canaanite fort,
But is now overwhelmed and by terror is fraught,
Delivered to slaughter, to fire and to woe,
To organs of evil that rain horror below.
One side claims ‘tis race chosen by heaven above,
Yet shows to its cousins neither candor nor love.
Isaac and Ishmaël continue their war
In violence and hatred four thousand years more.
But Jerusalem should stand for love of one’s brother
Teaching us all how to treat one another.
But now it sends violence and discord and death
Instead of its teaching good use of the earth,
And ending all problems by respect of each right,
But seeking instead to use military might.
Forget all that hate and the lentils in bowl
That Jacob gave Esau to take on his role.
They know not God of Love, of pardon and life,
No thought to see clear, now only there’s strife.
Dialogue together is the one way to peace,
With flowers of affection, the way war may cease.
You sons of Abraham, your feet are astray,
You know this is evil, not the heavenly way.
Your morals are gone, brute force only remains,
Treason, crime and cruelty that nothing now restrains.
The dormant Arab World, which giant claims to be,
Is always split in quarrel, and does nothing one can see,
Though Israel again pours out the vials of wrath
On an Arab neighbor which by itself stands forth.
The violence of the strong torments the weaker foe,
‘Twas Philistines of the sea three thousand years ago,
But now we see Mars in the other camp,
Now Goliath is the Hebrew who gives the war his stamp.
This rain of fire from heaven covers every inch of ground,
For neither child nor elder is shelter to be found.
There is neither aid nor cover, no help against the rage
Of the fiendish forces who every arm engage.
What savagery is this, turned against one’s kin,
When massacres abound and murder is no sin?
Here the only law is the one that might is right,
All violence they allow in the fury of the fight.
The earth below is shaking as hell pours down its ire
On folk with no protection or arms to face the fire.
Their force is in their love, their passion, and their will
For the nation of their fathers and the soil that they did till.
Ancient Gaza was a city prosperous and free,
With all the lively commerce that went across the sea,
Damascus of the South, where spices, wheat and wine,
And silver from the Canaanites were sent across the brine.
The Philistines, remember, came from the Isle of Crete,
The Sea Kings from Minoa, here they set their feet.
Now as in ancient times the peoples could agree
How to work together so happy they could be.
Hear the voice of reason and make two states like twins,
For now they cannot mingle or make war that neither wins.
History oft repeats itself, let the past its message send,
The Cretan and the Canaanite finally did blend.
With passing of the centuries all difference did dissolve,
The only thing still lacking is the will and the resolve.
By Gaza passed the Pharaohs, the Greeks and Romans too,
Syrians, Persians, Prophets, then the Christian Church here grew.
Salvation comes from courage and love the greatest need,
They can bring you peace and a glorious future breed.
Get rid of all the lies and the phantoms of the past,
To murder little children, such a victory will not last.
People brave of Gaza, you face unbounded rage,
But your courage and endurance in history write a page.

French by Joseph Matar – Translation: K.J. Mortimer