deep sea olive tree
resist without romanticising pain
On the Day their tongues, their hands and their legs will testify against them of what they used to do. - 24:24.
deep sea olive tree
palatable dinner tables,
hands dipping in your harvest.
their laughter surrounds,
echoes,
picking parts of you,
something profound.
poignantly still, you wait,
steady in aim.
would it be wrong of me
to pray
that another’s limbs
follow what you say?
tell me, o’ olive tree,
for i too
sit queerly at the table,
the world picking parts of me.
i am yet to reclaim.
my eyes rest on your soil.
how do your roots remain?
stolen fruit stones
masquerades,
rocks misconstrued as weapons.
scarves for resistance,
scars of resistance.
humility teaching me,
battling disdain
between love and sour tastes.
your leaves,
woven seams,
memory resisting pain,
surrender at play.
calloused hands
that planted you,
soft hands
that tend you,
yet evil reaps reward.
i breathe your oxygen
only in knowing:
he is not forgetful.
you shall have your say.
and so you wait,
ready for His call,
to tell on the oppressor,
and where they hide,
in the lands they ruined,
the lands they lied to own.
and with you,
we await.
jerilee xo
an attempt to turn this into a ghazal:
زيتون
i see fields of zaytoun, my soul trembles
branches endure where the world would have them fall
your fruit is stolen, yet your roots hold fast
storms of lies cannot undo your past
calloused hands planted you, soft hands tended
the soil remembers each act, though oppressors pretended
from land to sea, your shade stretches wide
bearing witness to lands that will not hide
you carry landscapes; harsh sands, copper flame
yet home persists, the heart remembers its name
on qiyam your roots will rise to tell
of every hand that sought to break, to quell
from the river to the sea, palestine will be free
promised by the almighty, as it shall be
ain’t no way this is your first ghazal i refuse to believe it allahumma BARIK 🫒🕊️
„i breathe your oxygen
only in knowing:
he is not forgetful.
you shall have your say“
Love