for Ashraf Fayadh
Ashraf Fayadh, who wants you dead?
It is not the earth
from which your body is made
It is not the sky
from which we breathe our lives,
into which we cry aloud,
“Set our brother free!”
It is not the fire
that burns in your heart
and makes you sing
that our rage fuels
against your persecutors
It is not the water
that weeps over us all
in a flood of sorrow
for the hate filled voices
that poison the world
with lies in the name of God.
God does not want anyone to die
God cannot speak a lie
Who then?
Those who answer to the names
we read in our papers and on our screens?
Can they answer for themselves?
Aren’t they sinners by their very accusations?
Who made of earth
is so holy that he can stand
in judgement?
Let him answer for his villainy,
for the bile that has so filled his heart
that it spills from his mouth.
We refuse to weep for you.
We refuse to let you die.
We refuse to let this moment pass.
Today we demand your liberation
Today we rail against any law
that turns God inside out and
makes the Creator a murderer
The earth will not be silent.
She is screaming with our lungs
that you walk in her fields again,
in her cities among her people
singing the poetry that only God can give.