Two by Sahar Salemeh
It's a Metaphor Fools
I lost my mind and went astray towards the earth and the people of today,
I laughed and laughed until I found a path
And then I found my mind lying there in the trash.
I tried and tried to find the truth, but I was just told "there's no time for you."
I went and stood on Pennsylvania Drive,
And I watched the poor man as he barely survived.
I went and knocked on the great white door,
Hoping that maybe, this will be the core.
The door didn't open, so I rang the bell,
And I found myself standing on the rim of hell.
I wasn't afraid, just a bit warm,
So I walked across the fire, and then came a storm!
So I held myself, weak yet bold, and cuddled against the wall, as I was told,
And then I saw the man that led the country towards the great fall...
He was knocking down my wall.
I ran toward him, I ran, I did
And he grabbed a chair and told me to sit.
He started to talk, but I couldn't hear,
The screams of the people drowned my ear.
They were loud and obnoxious, and they made me choke,
They made me drop my father's flask, and it broke.
They drank and drank to ease the thought,
Of life once lived, and now must be fought.
So I stood up, and smiled at him,
And I took out my book of recorded sins.
I told him to sing, like he's never sung before,
And as I walk out, to not shut the door.
And he sang his song, of deer and cattle,
And I returned, ready to win the battle.
I came with people, yes, the ones led astray,
And I asked them to live with me, at least for today.
So I held my picket sign, and wrote the words,
The words that so often, go unheard.
Stop this, stop that! They all said,
But these were just words coming out of my head.
Oh, these words, full of blames and chaos,
We'd do anything if we thought it'd save us.
Oh, this white building, full of ignorance and fear,
We don't belong there, we belong here.
Fight, fight, fight, cause a riot!
Fight, fight, fight...maybe they'll buy it.
Our Lives in Protest
by Sahar Salemeh
I picked up my picket sign, and walked down the street,
I carefully placed the picture of our president under my feet.
The man to the left walked slowly toward me,
And something in my heart told me that I should flee.
But I stood firm, proud, and strong,
I let him know that I had done nothing wrong.
I told the man, I told them all
Why is he defending the man that watched us fall?
And we kept chanting,quite loud...
Scream your poems of land and glory!
But let me tell you, they make no sense to me.
You went to places where they showed you the world,
But we remained here, doing what we're told
Isolated, in this magnetic square with the magnet pulling on our hair.
I lost my arm, and then my feet, and I fell silently in the street.
At one point there were millions of others,
And then they disappeared, left me with the blood of my own brother,
They chose to walk that way,
The was that flag stands, no matter the dismay.
I will never turn around...
Until the day that flag falls to the ground