Sumud

                                                    Sumud

It sure takes alot of guts & sheer bravery
to arrest children for throwing rocks at occupying soldiers
then to haul them away to a jail to be traumatized by sheer 'legal' terrorism
until  shaking in fear.bleeding, white with pain they sign confessions in a language they do not understand

My my what tremendous courage it must take to point a tank's barrel at a kid
who is on the way to school who dared to stop to throw a stone at the big ugly beast
What backbone & pluck one must  possess to be armed to the teeth harassing women, children & unarmed men in their own country at a checkpoint deciding who can pass  who cannot...& when

What kind of gallantry does one need to bomb schools & hospitals
using state of the art weaponry to destroy homes, farms & orchards
as brave cowards slaughter civilians en-caged in an open air prison for voting the wrong way in a free election but voting for a democracy your captors disapprove of
what absurd chutzpah this is to call this crime against humanity; self-defense or justified

A dozen jeeps screech to a stop outside a home in the occupied 'terror'tories
fully armed soldiers race out  shouting then break down the door of a families home at 3 am
 to photograph 13 year olds for future reference while mom & dad are forced to freeze by a gun shoved in the face outside in the chill of the night
after the raid to salute such daring gallantry with smiles and salutes which took such pluck & grit

But the truly brave the honestly courageous are those who don't blink when faced with such overwhelming force
real heroes are those who endure with unconquerable sumud day after day, year after year
 they stay with unpassable defiance and refuse to cede or yield
as the Palestinian gets jeered harassed & marginalized by the court fed by zionist policies he smiles with a grace incomprehensible

West Bank Palestinians resist under the yolk of foreign military occupation as they survive by endurance
under the wire mesh overhang of the markets from the trash tossed from above
to the Palestinian who stands up to the racism,abuse & mistreatment with a smile of fortitude & the calmness of valor

i walked with your children on public dirt roads while red-eyed demonic pious immigrants waved guns screaming rabid hatred
i was atop a teachers house in Hebron who showed us where the occupation soldier pissed in her watertank during the 2nd intifada
i broke bread with a family whose lineage goes backs thousands of years and have a stone at the entrance to their farm with the word's; 'we refuse to be your enemy'

i was born in a land called canada
my ancestor blood flows Lakota blackfoot
i eschew nationalism, patriotism and others vices of bigotry, elitism, xenophobia &  exclusiveness
but i shout with idealism & with solidarity i am Palestinian
i accept that all bloods flow red and one...