The Palestine Chronicle is pleased to feature a new poem by distinguished South African poet Rassool Snyman.
I Rage
By Rassool Jibraeel Snyman
I rage
I rage
I rage
I rage against
The gods who let the world spin out of control
I rage against the system that deceives us
I rage against the machinery that destroys
Fed by silent people
Acquiescence
Apathy
And trickery
I rage because we should rage
And not be subdued
Or pacified
Or patronized
I rage against the system that watches with glee
As we tear ourselves to pieces
Become monsters that howl at the moon
With bared fangs
And steel claws
I rage because silence kills
I rage because a vote is sometimes
A death warrant
For someone somewhere
I rage
I rage
I rage because our instruments of peace
Have been co opted
Are skewed
Are unjust
And far less than peaceful
I rage because we resurrected Rome from the dead
And gave it powers
To kill
To maim
To create havoc
To veto peace
And turn us all into bloodthirsty beasts
I rage because the colour of my skin
Determines whether I am grieved for
Or ignored
Or blamed
For my own misery and death
I rage silently
I rage openly
I rage with my pen
I rage with my thoughts
I rage
I rage
I rage
I rage because we feel pity for the emperor
And none for the victims
Who litter the fields
Maimed
Brutalized
I rage because we are willfully blind
Consciously deaf
And grieve selectively
I rage at our hypocrisy
And false values
At our double speak
And undying
Unconditional
Love of Rome
Love of the emperor
Love of the slave master
Love of the whip
And love of our own humiliation
Degradation
and descent into bestiality
I rage
I rage
I rage
I rage because children die
Bullets fly
Because we kiss our sanity bye bye
Politicians deny
Because widows cry
Bling bling reflected in every eye
Should I fold my arms and sigh
No
No
No
No
No
I rage
I rage
I rage
I rage because I must
I rage because history
Is not changed by submissive men
Or silent men
But by angry men
Who rage at injustice
And spit in the faces of oppressors
And stand by their truths
Like mountains
Steadfast
Resolute
I rage
I rage
I rage
I rage
I rage
Till I revolt
And burn both palace and dungeon
Come brother
Sister
Mother
Daughter
Comrade
Friend
Give me your hand
Rage with me
The silence is deafening
Apathy kills
More insidiously than bullets
Let the drumbeat
Of justice
Pulsate deep within you
Let your blood boil like lava
And your anger like flames
Flare to the sun
Outshining it
Dwarfing it
For it is so that
Temples of vanity
Are burned to cinder
And power destroyed
I rage
I rage
I rage
I rage
I rage
Until justice is done
And the future of the child assured
Until peace is like the air we breathe
And the fields grow flowers of joy
Not whitened bones
Till the hills of Palestine
Are retuned to their rightful owners
And the olive trees sing in the breeze
Symphonies of leaves and birds
Letters of peace
To a war weary people
In need of respite
Until every oppressor
Is harnessed
Fears the rage
Of the people
Until then I must rage
You must rage
We must rage
For perhaps it is through rage
That a better world will be born
(South Africa – January 20, 2009; "Tales of Extreme Sanity")