In Search of Gumption

Share this post

A poem for the West about the East

gumption.ink

Discover more from In Search of Gumption

Nourishing the spirit of ambitious people.
Continue reading
Sign in

A poem for the West about the East

A little sumthin' sumthin'

Nov 5, 2023
3
Share this post

A poem for the West about the East

gumption.ink
Share

If you are getting this, then I am still in my 10-day retreat and have not given up on the meditation practice. Yay me.

Here is something I wrote a few weeks ago.

I hope the world has not ended by the time I come back to it.

Send you love from Joshua Tree.

Omar

Get gumptionized every Sunday.


We call it the Middle East
because it is
between
us in the West
and the old beast of the East.

Our grandparents fought
a great war long ago
to liberate the world's people
from the axis monsters

We must crush them!
so there we bombed
and that generation boomed
and this great nation bloomed

and in that fertile bloody soil
we planted a seed
to treat
the victim as a shield
between West
and that long gone
evil East.

And even though
I chose to grow
in this nation's victory

As a child I was born
in the Middle of that East

I am a 35 yr old Egyptian American
who pays 35% of his money
to taxes
I swear.

all that goes
to fund the boomer's
long lost war
that they still fight
in their troubled minds

The money I harvest from
this beutiful american bloom
is then collected to continue
fighting a one sided war
that kills my own people
and has been for the past
75 years.


Children of Arabia
dislocated
desperate
suffocated
by their
own dictators
and an occupation
that continues
to punish the
people in the Middle
for the horific deeds
of a long lost East.

Children of the Middle East
Lost beneath
The rubble and stones
Left behind
By tanks bombing the land
And planes raiding the skies

The air stinks
The water cut
The fertile earth scarred
scorched
by the fire of war.

a Land blessed by holiness
A Land lost beneath
the stones
and broken bones.

Millions
invested in the path of destruction
The aftermath
Of a long lost past
Of the story between
Their grandparents and the beast.


So

when the West
becomes the East
when the left
becomes the right
when the right
becomes the wrong
when Angels
start beating
the devils drums
of war
and destruction

When old grandfathers
lose their way
when the blood of our children
is shed
When the people around you
choose to look the other way

Children,
we must grow older,
and draw our own line
in the sand
and demand
our grandfathers hand
over their guns and their keys.

BecausE the flame of
lady liberty
was lit to bring
light to the dark
not to torch down the eart

Chidlren of the East
speak up
making your voices heard
sing the melody of life
and stand up high
and heal.
Heal.
Heal.

so that one day
when the truth is out
and you gain new powers

make sure that
you don't recreate
this waste
of resources fighting
an imaginary war
with yourself,
like us.

may all gods
bless the
middle east
right now

3
Share this post

A poem for the West about the East

gumption.ink
Share
Previous
Next
Comments
Top
New
Community

No posts

Ready for more?

© 2023 Omar Shaker
Privacy ∙ Terms ∙ Collection notice
Start WritingGet the app
Substack is the home for great writing