For the Martyrs

Description

“Do you remember a boy who returned prematurely aged, draped in the universe’s torment? His poems poured down as tears… and how the lakes of passion danced joyfully in the eyes. Oh Mother, the wound of love feels sweet when my soul recalls the bitterness of a people suckling on spear-points, redeeming the young with a river of blood—and our Jerusalem. Why do I cast my gaze about… yet see no man? I see the masses… but I see no states; I see heroism… but I see no hero. Speak not to me of Saladin; were his days to return, I would cast myself upon his grave in shame. Where is dignity—did it die, choked by its own anguish? Where is pride—did it grow weary of cowardice and depart? I marvel at the Nation of the Quran: how it has become the bedfellow of humiliation, accepting no other mate. We remain intoxicated by the myth of peace—oh, you who would trust a wolf to shepherd the lamb! The dove of peace… I dream of severing it, and returning instead with a falcon that hunts down fear. We created ‘Sharon’ through our own timidity; how often has fear turned a mouse into a mountain? The dwarf grew into a giant when the peaks were diminished, and the ant cloned itself into a camel from our panic. Bring me the heart wherein certainty has surged, and cast me into victory… or cast me into my final hour.”
The martyrs hold a space in the poet’s heart, his innermost being, and his emotions; from their inspiration, meanings, phrases, and poems have blossomed. These verses traverse every corner, proclaiming the death of humiliation and the birth of dignity—a dignity purchased with the blood they sacrificed for a stolen right and a cause held hostage by the whims of the reckless. In an era marked by a retreat from responsibility—a time when pledges and promises have been broken—Al-Gosaibi gives free rein to his poetry. Through the words of the disheartened, the cries of the anguished, and the scorn of the derisive, he crafts verses that serve as an outpouring of pain, a testimony to the truth, and a warning to those who chose silence and withdrawal when they ought to have spoken and acted.