Arafat Is Dead Now Let's All Be Friends Poem by Aisha Sherazi

Arafat Is Dead Now Let's All Be Friends

Rating: 5.0


Arafat is dead now,
Let’s all make friends,
Surely now he’s gone,
It’s time to make amends?

It was all his fault,
All this time you see?
We could have been so happy,
All of us, we three.

Christians, Jews and Muslims,
Living side by side,
Instead we fought like cat and dog,
Our feelings we couldn’t hide.
War, bombs, destruction,
Washed over us like the tide.

We couldn’t trust each other,
Not with him around,
Instead we ran each other,
Straight into the ground.

But now that he has gone,
So much has changed you know,
There’s no more hatred there now,
And peace can finally grow.

So what if you’ve killed lots of us,
And we’ve killed lots of you?
It’s all in the past now,
That’s all that can be true.

But what of truth and honesty?
What of trust and care?
If you had cared for us these years,
We would not have lived this nightmare!

No, we wouldn’t have thrown stones at you,
You wouldn’t have killed us with tanks,
We would have been so cooperative,
And even given thanks!

You’ve never trusted us that’s true,
Not from day one,
And we’ve never trusted you,
Not since you killed our sons.

Our daughters and our mothers,
Our fathers, uncles too,
Our sisters and our brothers,
What had they done to you?

Are we so very frightening to you?
With our little shacks?
That we have built to shelter us,
To help us watch our backs.

Some of us have really reached the end,
We now bomb ourselves in buses,
In order to take revenge.

Not that we justify it, it really isn’t right.
But what you have done to us,
We feel your hands around our neck,
Clasping on so tight,
Squeezing the life out of us,
Showing us your might.

Using your armies,
So you can have your land,
Rather than embracing us,
And holding out your hand.

All so you can have this place,
Which is holy to us all,
Can’t we simply share it?
Wouldn’t God be appalled?

To see us fighting each other,
In this unsightly way?
Hasn’t he created us,
To live peacefully and pray?

So maybe things haven’t,
Changed so much after all?
Now Arafat is dead and gone,
Upon who else can we call?

To blame the situation on,
To make us feel alright,
That it isn’t our fault,
We haven’t been very polite.

We haven’t cared for each other,
Nor thought of human rights,
We haven’t cared for basic things,
The child crying in the night.

For fear of losing his family,
For fear of losing his home,
For fear of all the things to come,
For fear of the unknown.

Let’s keep that child in our minds,
When we talk about peace from now on,
Because that child’s feelings,
Might make us become strong.

Strong enough to push away,
All that has been done,
Strong enough to wipe out hate,
And really become one.

One people living in a land,
That’s free from hate and sin,
One people who look only,
At the enemy within.

COMMENTS OF THE POEM
Irene Clark-hogg 24 September 2006

I enjoyed this expression of your feelings on a very important topic. I am sure that all mothers applaud your words. We all, regardless of nationality, just want a world where we can live in peace with our children. Love, Irene

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Brian Dorn 06 July 2006

Aisha, great ending to a great poem. The enemy within is the most destructive of all. A wonderful poem filled with wisdom and hope... well done! ! Brian

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Tim Casswell 03 July 2006

i like this exploration of the issues and the longing behind your words. Tim

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Will Barber 25 May 2006

A fine message, a lovely write. Alas, alas if one man were solely to blame.. Yeats, in 'Nineteen Hundred and Nineteen' mourned, O what fine thought we had, because we thought That the worst rogues and rascals had died out. .....Now days are dragon-ridden, the nightmare rides upon sleep..... The poem is one of my favorites, I had it memorized at one time, and still know most of it by heart.

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