Dick and His Antlers

By Ingrid B Mørk

This One is for Iraq.

For Dick think Iraq..
For his antlers think Oil..

Dick and Delilah were reindeer
Roaming the hills and the glens
Munching on bracken and heather
Far from the presence of men

Now Dick had a fine set of antlers
Up on the top of his head
For these he was hunted and hounded
By people who wanted him dead

Who were driven by greed and not beauty
By murder and death and mayhem
They’ll awaken one dawn
To find all beauty gone
And a world full of nothing but them..

***

Goodbye Old Friend
 
By Robert Braunstein

Goodbye old friend
So long Fidel around for fifty years
The source of many lies
And focus of great fears

When you were a young lawyer
Your passion inspired others
You fought in the hills
With your revolutionary brothers

The children of Cuba
Were dying in droves
The tourists played cards in
Coconut groves

They drank rum and smoked fat cigars
They slept with prostitutes and hung out in the bars.

You were a young lawyer and a patriot too
They threw you in jail
And what did you do?

The people went crazy and sprung you from jail
You took to the mountains
Your revolution would prevail

You and Ernesto a doctor and lawyer
Gave up your privilege
To fight for the good
A modern day hero in a tough neighborhood

They blockaded your Island
They cursed your name
and invaded your country
To no avail, you pushed them out
And put them in jail

Your presence was everywhere and more than alive
Free healthcare, free rent, literacy for all, the children survived
Your island nation, by regional standards, thrived.

You weren’t perfect you made many mistakes.
They still haven’t lifted the blockade
They never forgave the changes you made

You are a dictator they say
I’m sure it is true
And Bush is a dictator in red white and blue

We have no free health care
Ours schools are not free
We pay ridiculous rents
And they steal our liberty

You are a hero
Unbowed and free
So long old soldier
I know it is true
History will surely absolve you

***

Breaking Free

By Murad Mustafa Hamzeh

I am the voice of the silenced majority,
Screaming in the cage of my reality

Shattered dreams of a life shaded in grey,
Obscured vision of a brighter day

Oppression is plaguing my reality,
Scenery of constant obscenity

My thoughts forever inscribed in stone,
Sleeping through life on my own,
I am alone

My dying breath crushing my chest,
Buried in the cemetery trying to rest

My breath of innocence taken at birth,
An unfocused earth giving me no worth

My life in a bubble, a constant struggle,
No one seems to hear my voice even until I’m in trouble

Walking on an unlit road to the unknown

All the seeds of hate have already been sown

My mother and father trying to survive,
Having nothing to do but try to stay alive

Imprisoned by my obvious mortality,
Never escaping this certainty

The olive trees screaming through the night,
The conscience of the world, nowhere in sight

My life in a bottle, thoughts trapped in a cage,
No wonder I blow up and get consumed by rage

I engage in fighting for my freedom and my history

It’s a travesty, a mystery, when will we stand up and change our reality

The wall is built, and the gates are closed,

Forever trapped in poverty in a ghetto so cold I was told to give up my ways,
I was told that this would lead to better days

But I will never stop fighting until I am free,
Never stop opening my eyes until I can see, until I can breathe

When will morality, give me equality,
I am Palestine, trying to break free of my catastrophe 

– These poems were contributed to PalestineChronicle.com