The Dove (poem)

[Ehab Lotayef]

The Dove

Shoot that dove
carrying the olive branch in its beak
 
Don’t hesitate
 
It’s phony
rendered to deceive
 
So the prisoner would worship the chain
The oppressed
would trust the oppressor
The hungry would revere their hunger
The tormented would embrace the tormentor
 
So that you
would swallow the bait
and surrender to fate
 
Shoot!
before it’s too late
 
--
Ehab Lotayef



(Inspired by and adapted from, a stanza in Abd-el-Rahman el-Abnoudi’s “Death on the tarmac” 1988)
عبد الرحمن الأبنودي – الموت على الأسفلت 1988
ملعون ابوها الحمامة
ام غصن زيتون
عملوها عشان الغلابة
يصدقوا الجلاد