Man at the Airport by Hassan Al Kontar

Author:Hassan Al Kontar [Kontar, Hassan Al]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781777010188
Google: 969VzgEACAAJ
Publisher: Tidewater Press
Published: 2021-04-09T05:19:12+00:00

Glory to Satan, idol of the winds

Who said no in the face of those who said yes

who taught humans to tear apart nothingness

He who said no, yet did not die

And remained an eternal pain soul

I am hanging on the gallows of the morning

My forehead bowed by death

Because I did not bow to her alive1

For three days, days in which I thought about rebelling and

revolutions, Donqol’s words had refused to leave me alone. I’d been trying for a realistic solution, one that was compatible with The System. To The System, I was a deportee returned from Cambodia, and as a deportee there was only one option, return to my home country.

When we think of revolutions or rebellions, the images of armed struggle, civil disobedience, coups and demonstrations come to mind. The overthrowing of dictatorial rule conjures up the faces of men like Gandhi, Guevara, Mandela, King. But for me, all these men began with one simple word: NO. We Syrians know very well about saying no; it is in our blood and our history. In the Third Century CE, Zenobia, the queen of Palmyra, said no to the Roman Empire and created a powerful independent kingdom for decades until the Romans conquered her. We all remember Zenobia, but not the names of the men who laid siege to Palmyra.

The words from another poem, one by a famous contemporary Syrian poet, also ran through my head:

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.