Is it the one with no coffin… is it the one killed in prison
Which do I mourn… and I am torn… between desert and jail
On the poisoned… and imprisoned… on Al-Kadhom I wail
* * *
My eyes mountains where rivers flow… and I can’t catch them in my hand
They flow to soothe a martyr’s thirst… left unburied on scorching sand
But suddenly the tears change course… and at first I don’t understand
Till they flow toward a dark jail… where even light itself is banned
My tears find their way to a cell… and by a fallen saint they stand
Till they rise up and cry a scream… Al-Kadhom was killed on this land
An explosion that shatters skies… just like mountains, crumble my eyes
An eruption… of emotion… on Kadhom my tears hail
On the poisoned… and imprisoned… on Al-Kadhom I wail
* * *
I ask about his tragedies… the answers make my hair turn grey
Taken from prison to prison… until for his own death he’d pray
In the prison of Al-Sindi… they would take even light away
He’d not know what time to worship… because he’d not know night from day
Shackled and made to stand for days… when he’d sway Earth with him would sway
What kind of torture makes God’s proof… cry out ‘O’ Lord take me away’
With each request he’d raise his arm… a hand replied, slapped our Imam
How much torture… the eyes rupture… and their muscles turn frail
On the poisoned… and imprisoned… on Al-Kadhom I wail
* * *
Ali Ibn Suwayd asked him… ‘O’ Imam when will you return?’
Al-Kadhom replied ‘on Friday… and for days Friday they would yearn
They awaited Sindi’s inmate… he had wounds from which pain would learn
A fire to see their beloved… such a fire will always burn
What they saw broke Jibraeel’s wings… and made the Earth stop its turn
On this bridge of Baghdad they brought… Imam Kadhom in a coffin
In his coffin Kadhom in chains… poisoned and pale are his remains
And they cry out… ‘Shia come out… today all of you fail’
On the poisoned… and imprisoned… on Al-Kadhom I wail
* * *
I find my eyes are torn in two… one of them wails upon Hussain
The stranger killed within his thirst… with his family and men slain
The other turns towards Baghdad… from weeping tears it won’t refrain
A body lies chained and tortured… poison seeps in his every vein
I see a sun that’s embarrassed… when of thirst an Imam complains
And I see an Imam chained up… forgiveness sought by every chain
One imprisoned by his own thirst… one in prison beaten and cursed
Jesus murdered… Moses tortured… our tears a holy grail
On the poisoned… and imprisoned… on Al-Kadhom I wail
* * *
My tears break into two rivers… with them breaks into two my mind
I start to follow each river… dreading what it is that I’ll find
One flows to the bridge of Baghdad… where Heaven and Hell has aligned
Heaven martyred, in a coffin… for this sight cries even the blind
I follow the other river… and find a lesson for mankind
Abbas remembers Hussain’s thirst… and throws the water from hand
In these rivers, my heart it sank… what if Kadhom had never drank
I cry Abbas… take Kadhom’s glass… it’s poisoned, be careful
On the poisoned… and imprisoned… on Al-Kadhom I wail
* * *
I cry tears and with every tear… with each time I’ve wailed and cried
Either I’m oppressed for each tear… or every tear I’m forced to hide
The torture Kadhom felt in jail… I feel it every day inside
Every time someone is oppressed… for having Ali as his pride
But the tears I cry remind me… whoever said he died, they lied
For Kadhom lives in these same tears… as tyrants these tears have defied
For two Imams, tears and sorrow… tears that tyrants fear tomorrow
Tears that defend… innocence and… demolishes evil
On the poisoned… and imprisoned… on Al-Kadhom I wail
* * *
(New York – 22/05/14)