Leeds Bradford Newswire Archive

HALABJA: The Martyred City

Nemat Sharif
March 2003


Off Hiroshima
The Smoke ascended
And the earth quacked
Homes smashed and domes cracked
Temperature rose into thousands
Cadavers scattered
Humans burned, things blackened

It was said:
Radiation causes cancer …
But in years, from the rubbles
Will rise a healthy Japanese
Who will hoist the flag!

* * *

On Halabja
A colorful smoke descended
Dazzling the eyes
Dazing the mind
And slowly
It seeped inside
A tormenting curse, it descending
On all living beings …
On animals,
On plants,
On humans …

* * *

Spring was breezy fresh
When on Halabja
The smoke descended
The earth didn't quake
Domes didn't crack,
And homes didn't smash
Temperature didn't rise
And flesh didn't fly
But by the thousands
Corpses scattered
--Some bleeding here,
--Others frozen there.

"What is it?" the world asked
"Surprised!", a Kurd replied:
"Hitler is born again."

* * *

Hitler is calling for revenge
Deep the feelings ran
It was said, again:
It isn't carcinogen
But in years …
In a generation or two
There will be born
A deformed Kurd
Who will bear the signs

On his right, will be
--A sterile plant

And on his left,
-- A wingless bird

In years, in Halabja
There shall rise,
-- A deformed Kurd
-- Who will ring the bell!
-- Who will call to return …

And for Kurdistan,
--He shall hoist a flag.

Of Nagasaki, they told:
Of fire, and destruction
A long history, and a little
Of mercy and care, they said.

Of Hiroshima, they said:
The fear of defeat,
The drive to win,
And of Halabja, they said:
Revenge ….
May be revenge!


* * *

Of the Kurds, he said:
"People without land" and it is
"Our exact calculations …
Did we err when we set
To change the balance of power
In the north"
And solve the equation of reality

A land without people,
A land infertile
A land scorched
A land saturated with toxins
Where life is bleak
And plants unlike plants
A land driven insane
With mustard, with Sarin
With nerve gas!

* * *

He said it years ago:
"A land without people
Or people without land?"

But history proclaimed:
He has lied
His equation isn't true!!
One day, from the ashes and gas
A deformed Kurd shall rise
He will spit on the world
Form a burnt lung
A spit half chemicals
And the other half is blood

He shall write
On his scorched land
Kurdistan shall be
Kurdistan will live
Kurdistan is My Home
Kurdistan is My Home …