I sat underneath the shade of your Neim tree
felt your scortched, sandy earth  beneath me
As my hand traced your parched skin
I felt you heaving heavily
trying to breath in

I asked you the matter?
but no words came through
Your solemn silence echoed your pain
Piercing through
like shells from a warplane

Your sha3ab, your ‘people’ that once sung your praises
now stand aside or rip you apart to smaller spaces
Their love and melodies carried you through
Those tunes and syllables that nourished you
No longer speak in unison
Or help to care for you

Your trees cried salty tears  and withered away
Your  monstrous march of millions hooves
Have dwindled or gone astray
The Nile  your backbone
Has cowered and meandered
In fear of your people’s greedy panders

In a faint breath you murmured your sorrows
I am divided
and my people are dying
I no longer have the will to keep trying

We sat in silence and witnessed your neighbours’ grief
Egypt is spiraling in uncontolable directions
Libya  is caving in for the “righteous” cause of speech and tribal factions
Your Somali brothers can no longer shed a tear
No drop of water in their bodies to placate their hunger and fear

We wondered if you will soon share their same fate
Or will self proclaimed saviors swoop in with their
agends
and willingness to “donate”
where well intentions
give way to capitalist  ventures

With every event, it is said that “this time is different”
But every symptom is getting the same prescription
We all seem to be suffering from selective amnesia
Forgetting to take notes
Repeating the same diction

As the sun came down
The dusk gave way to gentle breezes
the memories you etched along your sands
have been brushed away
and almost forgotten
….