I Rage - A Poem

'We must rage; For perhaps it is through rage; That a better world will be born.'

The Palestine Chronicle is pleased to feature a new poem by distinguished South African poet Rassool Snyman.

I Rage

By Rassool Jibraeel Snyman

I rage

I rage

I rage

I rage against

The gods who let the world spin out of control

I rage against the system that deceives us

I rage against the machinery that destroys

Fed by silent people

Acquiescence

Apathy

And trickery

I rage because we should rage

And not be subdued

Or pacified

Or patronized

I rage against the system that watches with glee

As we tear ourselves to pieces

Become monsters that howl at the moon

With bared fangs

And steel claws

I rage because silence kills

I rage because a vote is sometimes

A death warrant

For someone somewhere

I rage

I rage

I rage because our instruments of peace

Have been co opted

Are skewed

Are unjust

And far less than peaceful

I rage because we resurrected Rome from the dead

And gave it powers

To kill

To maim

To create havoc

To veto peace

And turn us all into bloodthirsty beasts

I rage because the colour of my skin

Determines whether I am grieved for

Or ignored

Or blamed

For my own misery and death

I rage silently

I rage openly

I rage with my pen

I rage with my thoughts

I rage

I rage

I rage

I rage because we feel pity for the emperor

And none for the victims

Who litter the fields

Maimed

Brutalized

I rage because we are willfully blind

Consciously deaf

And grieve selectively

I rage at our hypocrisy

And false values

At our double speak

And undying

Unconditional

Love of Rome

Love of the emperor

Love of the slave master

Love of the whip

And love of our own humiliation

Degradation

and descent into bestiality
 

I rage

I rage

I rage

I rage because children die

Bullets fly

Because we kiss our sanity bye bye

Politicians deny

Because widows cry

Bling bling reflected in every eye

Should I fold my arms and sigh

No

No

No

No

No

I rage

I rage

I rage

I rage because I must

I rage because history

Is not changed by submissive men

Or silent men

But by angry men

Who rage at injustice

And spit in the faces of oppressors

And stand by their truths

Like mountains

Steadfast

Resolute
 

I rage

I rage

I rage

I rage

I rage

Till I revolt

And burn both palace and dungeon

Come brother

Sister

Mother

Daughter

Comrade

Friend

Give me your hand

Rage with me

The silence is deafening

Apathy kills

More insidiously than bullets

Let the drumbeat

Of justice

Pulsate deep within you

Let your blood boil like lava

And your anger like flames

Flare to the sun

Outshining it

Dwarfing it

For it is so that

Temples of vanity

Are burned to cinder

And power destroyed
 

I rage

I rage

I rage

I rage

I rage

Until justice is done

And the future of the child assured

Until peace is like the air we breathe

And the fields grow flowers of joy

Not whitened bones

Till the hills of Palestine

Are retuned to their rightful owners

And the olive trees sing in the breeze

Symphonies of leaves and birds

Letters of peace

To a war weary people

In need of respite 

Until every oppressor

Is harnessed

Fears the rage

Of the people

Until then I must rage

You must rage

We must rage

For perhaps it is through rage

That a better world will be born

(South Africa – January 20, 2009; "Tales of Extreme Sanity")

http://www.palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=14801