“I Never Agreed With What They Did.” War on Gaza. A long poem.
21 Speakers of Moral Outrage, Moral Duty and Moral Blindness. You will find your voice among the speakers.
“I NEVER AGREED WITH WHAT THEY DID” (See translation into Arabic and Hebrew at foot of poem) Speaker 1 “I never agreed with what they did and I acted on what I knew." A systematic targeting without a morsel of compassion 80% of Gaza destroyed, a cemetry for the dying A laboratory for testing Western missiles, warheads Bombs, tanks, shells, drones, torture, psychological warfare Victims - devoid of surgery, painkillers, treatment While those on their feet wait to become the fallen Barely surviving the descent into famine Homes, hospitals, clinics, schools, mosques, Roads, archaeological sites, parks and cafes. A tragic history of ongoing obliteration Know your power to raise your voice Know your power to write your words Paint your protest and change history. Offer your care for those suffering On the sharp edge of existence.
Death and Demolition and the long walk through
Speaker 2 “I never agreed with what they did but I did not know what to do.” Genocide of everything that lives and moves Human genocide, children genocide, cultural genocide While soldiers post triumphant kills on social media Genocide of medical staff, humanitarian aid workers, journalists Desecration of health, wellbeing, animals, slaughter of pets Mutilation of wards, medicine, medical equipment Gaunt eyes, stark bones, maggots feasting on wounds Loss of humanity, loss of the humane, loss of the sacred Loss of worth, loss of hope, loss of the beautiful Loss of happiness. Loss of peace of mind Loss of freedom of movement Only cramped trudging in Gaza from hell to hell Voices of young engage in non-violent uprising Israeli teens in demos burn their draft papers Fearless compassion displayed to compliant elders Let us take noble steps with others as an aid for the Downtrodden, dispossessed and depressed. Speaker 3 “I never agreed with what they did but nobody knew my view. Why did you withdraw into a deathless silence? Were you afraid of audible murmurs, In case your peers judged you? You have let 650 days plus go by A calendar of citizen’s daily denial A triumph of evil saddened the world Horror, hunger, wounds and blood Of bestial brutality of past and present Do you still dare not speak up about Despicable, barbaric and unspeakable? Is it true you cannot even bear to say to others “Families in Gaza…..?” Speak to truth. Show you are not afraid. Speaker 4 “I agreed with what they did because I listened to the same voices.” Loss of sight, loss of hearing, loss of limbs, Loss of everything, loss of meaning, of purpose Loss of resources to ease terror inflicted Amputations, spinal cord injuries, burns, nerve damage Dehydration, infectious diseases, vomiting, diarrhoea, Daily emotional desecration of Gaza’s children Merciless massacres of a population reducing Adoption of the Squid Game in the real world Women/children risk all for a bag of rice Share humility of meals in outstretched hands Look beyond narcissism of privatised interest Who are the voices to listen to? Those who inflict suffering or those who suffer? Dig into your pockets, to feed the starving Know a noble use of your bank/credit card. To your everlasting credit. Speaker 5 “Our leaders went along with what they did with a mild tap on wrists to naughty boys for committing genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes” Smart dressed Western leaders calculating with their indifferent and inept faces Elected civil servants colluding in Moral corruption to perpetuate hell Proponents of vulgar secularism Launching missiles and merciless threats Hard core secularists rage upon the ‘other’ Who is none other than themselves in disguise Blinded by identification of one side Deadens seeing dead and dying of other side. Christian Zealots engage in the blind Glorification of the Holy Land, while Pissing on Jesus and Love Thy Neighbour While wimpish Buddhists indulge In self-compassion as their priority. Revelations of a spiritual crisis haunt Dark nights of the soul and the soulless, Find the light of awareness seeing The divide and horror-cost nearby And then follow the light step by step. Offer your skills for those suffering On the sharp edge of existence. Speaker 6 “I do not agree with everything they are doing. However…” You views are anti-Semitic. You are a rabid supporter of Hamas. You incite anti-Semitism. Hidden in a so-called poem. UK police should arrest you You obviously hate Jews. You are a peddler of fake news. You know nothing about Israel and the Arabs. You have never been to Gaza You know nothing of Israel’s valiant attempts To find a solution. (Oh. That word again). Where does the gift of abuse stay if declined? Are you free to choose another view? If so, please share becoming a gift received Share with friends and foes alike You and us have much in common With or without the gifts. Speaker 7 “We never agreed with what they did. Perhaps we slept instead. We citizens asleep in Western nations Leaders airmail missiles and parts Like driving sawn off shotguns to a violent gang to rob a bank Our dirty fingerprints on bombs-bullets Our silent behaviour as accomplices As snipers aimed at the heart of kids To target womb of weeping mothers Even dips in the sea for relief verboten Clones of cruelty dreamed up daily for Fresh ways to keep fires of hell burning You are the one to pour water on fire.
The grim truth of political decisions
Speaker 8 “I never agreed with what they did but I decided to wait to speak up” With their torn limbs and broken lives And smell of death decomposing Vengeance shown on blood-stained rubble. Until you feel safe to do so, namely After perpetual war crimes grind to a halt Others of same ilk share same pointless Views so thoughts confirm irrelevance As you wait for a comfortable time To express your humanity that Had long gone past its sell by date When the bombs, tanks, rifles suffocated Happiness out of fearful, crying hearts Do not wait to start a new life Do not wait to know a new mind. Do not wait to ask for forgiveness Do not wait to ask what you can offer Speaker 9 “I never agreed with what they did; self-interest comes first” I was too afraid to say anything Sword of Damocles can slash my Friendships of decades, family withdrawal I dare not mention Palestinian families I fear rejection, dismissal, isolation From daily circles. Calculating coldness Would cast me out of workplace, A blighted career, struck from register, Outcast from the chosen ones. Labelled a ‘traitor’ – for feeling plight of Gaza. My name would be unworthy of mention Just as it is for Palestinians. Experience empathy to release love The love that changes the narrative That changes the event, the love that counts. Speaker 10 “I mostly disagreed with what they did but I could only record in my journal” Know their grim will to suppress your voice They displace their anger on the unnameable Brush off personal attacks like Dandruff on shoulders of your black coat ‘Out of touch.’ ‘Deluded.’ ‘Gone Mad.’ ‘Brainwashed.’ If you speak up, be prepared for an assault Launch of verbal missiles on your inner truth Will you, tortoise like, withdraw? Into a shell where darkness rules Will you talk about it (Gaza) or them (families in Gaza)? You don’t have to live with influencers You do have to live with yourself and neighbours. Gold gets tested in fire of others rejection Abide in the resistance to oppression And solidarity for those in daily lamentation.
Resiliance in the midst of desperate need of families
Speaker 11 “You and me should never have agreed with what they did” Who heard us say this in long nightmare? How did we become slaves to Tragic comfort of conformity? Why did we take refuge in lies? Deceit of what our media told us In their claims of impartiality instead of listening to humanity Why did we turn our back On cry of Gaza-in-need? Not to mention their dehumanisation. Two State Solution. Solution? Oh no. Not that word again. Find the language that heals. Offer your protest for those suffering On the sharp edge of existence, Speaker 12 “I agree with everything we are doing.” IDF works to get rid of Hamas on the world’s behalf We want the hostages back. Nothing will stop us. And create a humanitarian city for 600,000 Housed in prescribed corner of south Gaza. We are not engaged in ethnic cleansing We will build the city on their land. We have found the solution (That word again). To the Palestinian problem You have nothing to offer but empty words Do problems always dwell in the mind of the other? Who is so pure and blameless with the authority to bomb childen and fire bullets of blame? Speaker 13 “I agreed with what the IDF did until a soldier told me what they did” War crimes one day after the next Erasure of vulnerable and persecuted Pleasure and power of pursuit Humiliation of families, sex predators Hunting down prey as expendable So settlers can expand their ‘living space’ Just like you know who and you know when Torrrent of guilt enslaving the soldier A life falling apart, a spiritual despair and death in the eyes, in the heart, in the cells. You can stand outside shadows of history to nourish a fresh lease of life.
Drones who hover at eye level and fire on people in streets and in their homes
Speaker 14 “I never agreed with what they did until I campaigned” 1000 children so far fed bullets Instead of breakfast in food line Mothers and fathers held to ransom Demonic starvation hammers On broken doors with dirty plates Nothing at hand for traumatised souls Drinking of rusty water, hardened flour Quadcopter drones drop from the sky Flying above, just out of reach, single aim To intimidate, terrorise and assassinate To emit loud recorded sounds - crying Babies, yelling children, screaming women To lure fathers out of their homes Fodder for drone explosives or shooting Drones, too, hover release screeching Sounds relentless upon sleepless families. Campaign. Campaign. Campaign You can keep the troops at home You can take bullets out of the rifle Switch off the drones And keep the bomber planes grounded. Speaker 15 “I never agreed with what they did until I watched hell on TV” On streets with blocks of flats. A transfer of AI data from a drone Target a male back home for wife, kids Destruction of entire block of flats Target demolished. Thumbs up. Abomination to bombing, shelling Or summary arrests, summary hostages Summary torture in naked enforcement Share your revulsion with the compassionate Whose hearts lead them beyond the secure. Offer your time for those suffering On the sharp edge of existence.
Systemic heavy bombing to flatten Gaza
Speaker 16 “I agreed with what they did until I had a moment of honesty” Your masters will fail to slaughter human Spirit and the power of resilience Lives stricken with weeping and sobbing. Starved of food, water, medicine, electricity, In burning heat of summer and frigid winter, Rainstorms, mud, garbage, floating sewers Winds whipping up from the sea Soaked bedding, minds drowning in sorrow Did you shelter in your fears? Did you let your neighbours down? Found on other side of barren land. Did you turn your back on them? A deathless silence of obedience? Do not condemn yourselves for Slavery to a contracted mind You have been shaped that way You had a moment of honesty That broken through the glass wall. You have the rest of the day to Recover your dignity and humanity. It only takes a moment of clarity You are the one to wipe away their sorrow.
The long walk of the homeless to one corner of Gaza and then orders to somewhere else.
Speaker 17 “I support what we did. We had no choice." Millions witness a nearby a massive crime scene Do not expect your children to forgive you Do not expect the world to forgive you The world will remember their terror Remember the long night of your past About you know what and you know when? See engagement beyond the realm of Beliefs that tear lives into zeros. Spur yourself for heart’s release of blockade An engagement beyond the grim of the formed With new passion to mark a new age. Speaker 18 “I'm not sure I agree with what they did” Convince me of your moral secular-religious Code. Does it stand apart from warped Minds of Hamas, Jihadists, Taliban? Have you adopted arrogance of Western ways? Of dismissal and disdain for the non-West Backed up with hardware of export of Harrowing horror by air, land and sea While sitting on the fence as bombers take off. Are you more than inadequare indecision? Launch a delivery to nourish body and soul Near and far, friends and strangers Expose the validity of human existence We are much more than what we believe. Speaker 19 “I do not agree with what we are doing so I note a higher power.” Our children will listen. The world will listen. We are relieved to hear your moral outrage Of countless acts committed in your name. Remember the UN definition of genocide Genocide means any acts committed with intent to destroy, In whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group. Prevention or Punishment of the Crime Of Genocide, an instrument of international law. You are the voice of compassion. You forgot but no longer. You are now on your feet with a mountain to climb. Speaker 20 “I do not agree with anything whatsoever with what we are doing.” I am among a growing percentage of politicians, Officers/soldiers, religious, secularists, grandparents, Students, teens, children, seniors As citizens stretch their hearts across Divide of violent politics of our history. To reject the decadence of those clinging to power So all Palestinians and Israelis hear each other You will see us on the streets Banners, flyers, posters, leaflets. You will hear us in the coffee shops Finding ways to create a new history Do join us. Lend an ear. One ear is enough To become emboldened. Speaker 21 “We do not agree with anything they are doing, nor anything they tell us." We are not going away. We have found our voice. Let us heal the deep wounds together Let us find ways to agree to Unshakeable Contributions to Co-existence, Communication. Connection. Co-operation May visionary sons and daughters Of intimate neighbours hold hands With ears tuned to each other With hearts and mind expanded Close to sacred earth All held in common As-Salaam-Alaikum. Peace Be Upon You Shalom Aleichem. Peace Be Upon You. MAY ALL BEINGS LIVE IN PEACE MAY ALL BEINGS LIVE IN HARMONY MAY ALL BEINGS LIVE IN PEACE AND HARMONY. Link to AI translation into Arabic anengagledlife.org/poem-in-arabic Link to AI Translation into Hebrew anengagledlife.org/poem-in-hebrew
Christopher offered teachings/practice exploring the theme of Transformation of Suffering in Israel and Palestine between 1992 and 2019. He gave retreats, workshops, public talks, facilitated Israeli-Palestinian groups, met in public places, homes and offered counsel in countless one-to-one meetings. www.thebuddhawallah.org www.anengagedlife.org
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