Eye to Eye
Autor: Gihad Ali
Originally Published at Peace and Conflict Monitor on: 09/16/2003
Eye to Eye
By: Gihad Ali
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Look into my eyes
And tell me what you see
You don’t see a damn thing,
’cause you can’t possibly relate to me.
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You’re blinded by our differences.
My life makes no sense to you.
I’m the persecuted Palestinian.
You are the American red, white and blue.
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Each day you wake in tranquility.
No fears to cross your eyes.
Each day I wake in gratitude.
Thanking God he let me rise.
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You worry about your education
And the bills you have to pay.
I worry about my vulnerable life
And if I’ll survive another day.
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Your biggest fear is getting ticketed
As you cruise your Cadillac.
My fear is that the tank that just left
Will turn around and come back.
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America, do you realize,
That the taxes that you pay
Feed the forces that traumatize
My every living day?
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The bulldozers and the tanks,
The gases and the guns,
The bombs that fall outside my door,
All due to American funds.
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Yet do you know the truth
Of where your money goes?
Do you let your media deceive your mind?
Is this a truth that no one knows?
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You blame me for defending myself
Against the ways of Zionists
I’m terrorized in my own land
And I’m the terrorist?
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You think that you know all about terrorism
But you don’t know it the way I do.
So let me define the term for you.
And teach you what you thought you knew.
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I’ve known terrorism for quite some time,
Fifty- four years and more.
It’s the fruitless garden uprooted in my yard.
It’s the bulldozer in front of my door.
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Terrorism breathes the air I breathe.
It’s the checkpoint on my way to school.
It’s the curfew that jails me in my own home,
And the penalties of breaking that curfew rule.
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Terrorism is the robbery of my land.
And the torture of my mother.
The imprisonment of my innocent father.
The bullet in my baby brother.
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So America, don’t tell me you know about
The things I feel and see.
I’m terrorized in my own land
And the blame is put on me.
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But I will not rest, I shall never settle
For the injustice my people endure.
Palestine is OUR land and there we’ll remain
Until the day OUR homeland is secure.
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And if that time shall never come,
Then they will never see a day of peace.
I will not be thrown from my own home,
Nor will fight for justice cease.
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And if I am killed, it will be for Falasteen.
It’s written on my breath.
So in your own patriotic words,
Give me liberty or give me death.
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“Show forgiveness, speak for justice and avoid the ignorant.”
The Holy Quran, Chapter 7, Verse 199
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