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Scream of the unborn - by Malek Ayoub

Oh enemy of my father
Oh enemy of my mother, my grandfather and my grandmother
Oh enemy of my land, my water streams and my atmosphere

I have never seen you…
Yet I can smell your nasty odour and feel your presence
I hate your being around us while I am in my mother's womb

I feel the fear that runs through her blood when you come closer
And when your bullets strike in all corners of the camp in Jenin
All the foetuses shrink in the wombs

When your tanks invade our neighbourhoods and lanes
When your planes cut through the sky over our heads bringing lightning and horror
We hear you … and execrate you and learn to hate you long before seeing you

We know all about you …
Are you not the same criminals who built road blocks and erected walls?
Are you not the same gang who divided our dear homeland, dried our water streams and burnt our atmosphere?

We hate you every time the sun rises … and curse you at every sunset
And with every beat of my mother's heart we pray to God to destroy you
Because the prayers of the unborn are answered at the gate … as are the night prayers of the believers in a holy place

You are not among those who give life
You are the catastrophe of our times
You are not the one who turns our plants green and colours the branches
You are the saw that cuts through history
And you burn both green and dried plants, letting everything wither and the days and nights die out
You are a professional at killing and a master at annihilating dreams
Most foetuses around the world are born
And grow to be adults and then old people before they die
While we die even before we are born … before we have had a chance to be.

Zurich - Suhmata
13/3/2009



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