Dedicated to the victims of the Gaza massacres in 2008-2009, 2012, 2014, and 2018, 2022 and all victims of oppression globally.
Muharram arrived with piercing screams,
Playing children bombed to smithereens,
Torn limbs shrouded in ash,
Lost in the deafening blitz, blinding flash!
I heard the echoes fade…
As I sat in the mosque and prayed
Safe in His house of peace…
Far from the blood and screams
Clearing my heart and mind
Of haunting images and cries
I willed myself to concentrate,
On the tragedy of the Ahul Bayt
I wept for my Imam’s compassion,
His sacrifice for justice, his passion!
I heard his call to follow, to rise,
Reject apathy, inertia, and strive,
And in that moment, I cried,
‘Labbayk ya Husayn, I’ll try!’
And so, I strove,
Week upon week,
To don black and mourn and weep,
To hear the lamentations,
Attend commemorations,
Join the processions,
To fulfil my promise and pledge
And yet,
As I sat longer and cried harder,
My tears did not douse the flames in Gaza,
Nor did they cool the burning, searing pain,
Of lives destroyed and children slain!
I tried to be a Husayni, I did truly
I loved and mourned my Imam duly,
Yet love without vision, action, is weak
A candle without a wick,
It does not burn, nor serve, nor give
How much more slaughter, oppression,
From Palestine to Bahrain, Pakistan to Yemen,
Before my tears smoulder and ignite,
A burning love that acts, defends, fights??
Will I be a moth to Husayn’s flame,
Subsumed by the justice, light of Husayn!
Or will I coldly turn away,
And let humanity bleed
And burn,
And decay??!
Fatema Valji | @poetryfv
From ‘Who am I? A Collection of Reflective Poems’
published by @sunbehindcloud
