Shireen!
Shireen!
Struck down on Street Jenin
Bloodhounds
Snarl and bite
Her home they storm
Her corpse still warm
They salivate
Gobs of hate
Dogs of war
Raid hospital ward
Bereft respect
Dispensing pain
Like acid rain
Rioting police
Obstruct procession
Berserk with hate
Horse hooves drumming
In-human boots
Truncheons flaying
Erupt disrupt
Funeral march
Beating mourners
Breaking bones
Battering hearse
Bash the casket…
Freezing time
In the maelstrom
Coffin slanting
Crazily
Hold on
Steadfast
Sumud
Inhale exhale
Under blows
Of frenzied foes
One more heave
Onto shoulders
Never give up
Sumud
Homage
Serenity
The church
The cemetery
Where faithful tread
The Hallowed Way
Laid to rest
In tender peace
Tears shed
Solidarity spread
Shireen
People’s voice
People’s eye
Twenty-five years
Witness for the nation
Mentor to each generation
And loved as such
Along and beyond freedom road
Narrating
Recording
Repression
Resistance
Texture of trail
Homes bulldozed
Groves destroyed
Plundered land
Apartheid walls
Water theft
Lives wrecked
Widows bereft
Dispossessed
Heads erect
The youth on fire
Intifada
Sumud
Around her head
Phosphorous bombs
Piercing lead
Innocence dead
People risen
Midst settler mobs
Fearless calm
Truth spread
Intifada
Sumud
Shireen in death
Infusing light
Undying presence
Uplifting night
Birthing life
Onto victory
Legacy bright
Intifada
Sumud
Children laugh
Swim and play
Refugees home
Prisoners free
From River to Sea
Sabra Shatila
Gaza Galilee
Insha’Allah
Sumud
Olive trees
Distilling breeze
Shireen
Adored
A priceless queen
Shireen Jenin Sumud
– Ronnie Kasrils, veteran of the anti-apartheid struggle, and South Africa’s former Minister for Intelligence Services, activist and author. He contributed this piece to The Palestine Chronicle
