By Hassen Lorgat
“A whole civilisation will die tonight, never to be brought back again” —
not material for a poem nor a news slot,
but a declaration of war against all humanity.
A cry from a genocider.
“I gave them a deadline — tonight, 8 p.m. —
to end their blockade at the Strait of Hormuz.
Otherwise, I will destroy every bridge and power plant in Iran
within four hours.”
Iran did not lie down and wait to die, a coward’s death.
92 million people stood as one comrade.
In that moment they became the Vietnam of this generation —
ready to face the invaders pound for pound,
yet preferring doves of peace
to the F-16s dropping more often
from the Persian sky.
“A whole civilisation will die tonight,” he warned.
This is the war chant of genociders —
reverberating around an uneasy world.
We remember the two Tomahawk missile strikes
that hit the Shajareh Tayyebeh school —
110 learners and five dozen others:
passersby, parents, neighbours.
They lay alongside opened books and bags —
…dead… blood… tears… rubble…
But that was in the beginning.
Now he threatened to wipe out a whole people —
a civilised people.
Outraged, the people of the world demanded action,
whilst citizens in Tehran embraced their bridges —
the pathways for peaceful conversation
with the coalition of the just.
The day before, the man in the White House accepted Iran’s peace plan.
His bulldog in the hood released their fury — they claimed it was epic —
targeting railway bridges, highways,
petrochemical and electricity power plants,
airports, and the Kharg Islands.
People became numbers — collateral damage for a man about to sign
a two-week truce.
Who can forget that bulldog’s daily mowing of the lawns
in the fertile lands of Lebanon?
To this devastation, the world said nothing.
This is the genocider in chief.
The zealot’s drive for a Greater Israel
diminishes their humanity.
Why does he get a free pass?
We will make sure it does not last.
Who can forget Lebanon —
your flowing white mountains and melodies?
Nor see you temporarily tarnished.
We wish your current leaders more steadfastness,
and note that those who rule the world
are defacing your beautiful cities and towns,
demanding you disarm those gallant fighters in the trenches
flying your multicoloured flag.
All I can do from where I stand
is borrow from your beloved poet Gibran:
Pity the nation that acclaims the bully as hero,
and that deems the glittering conqueror bountiful.
I am soothed, as always, by that voice of Lebanon —
constant and unkillable.
I can still hear Fairuz singing:
“The Lebanon of dignity —
a people that perseveres.
How could I help loving you?
Even in your madness I love you.”
This is our message to all the uncivilised of the world:
We refuse to die because you say so.
We have greater mountains to climb.
Pack your bags.
Your time is up.
