The Flag

she crossed the desert,
she had a little flag ,
they where chasing her, wanted to take that flag away,
they had swords, they caught her,
they chopped off her right arm, the flag fell down,
she picked it up with her left arm up and ran , fast, a trail of blood
on the sand, Arab blood, with all the colours of the flag
she ran , it hurts, it's hot , she's thirsty,
they are chasing her, she reached the north pole,
it's cold, cruel cold, and she's thirsty,
they chased her still, they looked different but they are the same,
they caught her , they stabbed her in the back,
cut her left arm, the flag fell down, she fell down , bleeding,
the flag was next to her heart, in her heart, they couldn’t take it away.

she is bleeding, they were talking , yelling,  'forget ' they said,
she couldn't speak, she was in pain, she felt the flag next to her
heart, she smelled the Nile, the lemon trees of Jericho,
they shouted :'forget' , she heard the sea, port said, intima' intifada, watan, watan, watan, watan........, aqaba, ladqyeh.
She saw lots of hannoun, and olive trees, she heard Marcelle singing Mahmoud Darwish, 'muntasiba el qamati amshi... marfou3a al hamati amshi, fi kaffi qasfatou zaitounin wa3ala katifi na3shi, wa ana amshi...'  and um kalthoum was singing. Al Mutanabbi, Ahmad Shawqi, Abu el Qassem, Ilea, Imrii el Qais, Jubran, Qais wa Laila, Salah el Dein, camels, horses, the dome of the rock.
Al Joulan, Baghdad, Sina , Muthaffar, Sabra and Shatila... all the saints  where  there.
They yelled 'Forget Forget !!!!!'
NO, she said. That was the last word she said.

Ottawa  - 1997/8