Where are my hands… alone she stands…
The banner flutters… nothing else matters… but my promise to her
Upon these sands… bodies like lands…
And my heart shatters… just like the waters… that from the canteen pour
Abbas don’t fail… the children wail
* * *
I’m the son of the one whose sword… descended from the heavens
Marhab kills all, but seeing him… his heart shrivels and weakens
My sword cuts straight through evil’s head… from my father its lessons
I am the fortress of Ali… that surrounds all his orphans
Abbas don’t fall… the children call…
Tortured by their thirst… pain is at its worst… and their hope is in you
Stand back up, tall… souls to you crawl…
Their tongues be quenched first… let your own tongue fast… the excuses are few
Abbas don’t fail… the children wail
* * *
I am the eagle in battle… that attacks birds and sparrows
I take men’s souls from their bodies… leaving only their shadows
I leave the mothers of tyrants… drowning in grief and sorrows
Were the angel of death to sleep… I’d ensure here that death grows
I am Abbas… none by me pass…
When we were children… life was delusion… and our hands played with death
None can surpass… I’m of a class…
And I’m a lesson… no comparison… angels rejoice at my breath
Abbas don’t fail… the children wail
* * *
O’ Abbas you are a mountain… raise yourself up off that ground
You are the lion others fear… men throw their hopes where you’ve frowned
Your presence makes blood in veins freeze… men by air around you drowned
Don’t let the wails of those girls… be in your ears your last sound
O’ Abbas rise… like the sunrise…
Burn out all the air… leave them in despair…for that grief in Zainab
Open your eyes… soothe all those cries…
Souls from bodies tear… just like skin from hair… challenges you Marhab
Abbas don’t fail… the children wail
* * *
O’ Abbas, you know me Abbas… I embody selflessness
I let the moon sit on the sky… though I challenge its brightness
You know I sat by the river… upon my tongue a dryness
Yet when I recalled those children… to me water was worthless
I cannot stand… without a hand…
My arms are severed… my hands dismembered… how can I push myself up?
I can’t withstand… water that’s banned…
But I’ve remembered… my hands are removed… I just cannot push-up
Abbas don’t fail… the children wail
* * *
O’ wind don’t travel to Zainab… I don’t know what to tell her
If she scents that Abbas has bled… the rose I guard shall wither
The cries of thirst from those young girls… my heart and mind they smother
And how it hurts that my own fall… breaks the back of my brother
O’ Lord I plead… as here I bleed…
Bring me my Hussain… as all of this pain… the sight of him heals
Accept this deed… water they need…
Bring me back again… my heart in disdain… by them my soul kneels
Abbas don’t fail… the children wail
* * *
(London – 01/08/14)