Ayat al-Ghormezi's poem: Khalifa

By Ayat al-Ghormezi
Translated from the Arabic by Ghias Aljundi with Mitchell Albert (PEN)

Hear me: 

You, the elder,

the "good man", who "safeguards justice"

(so you have always declared),

if I were to make excuses for you,

I, for you, for the things you have done,

I would only look the fool,

for you would continue in your ways, 

and murder us as "traitors".

Hear me:

Hear us all,

for we all demand likewise - both sects, all Bahrainis:

You must go. 

Take His Majesty with you, 

and leave your deeds behind.

You, oppressor, 

from where do you derive your power,

the power to keep your people down? – 

all your people,

even women 

even children 

even men. 

Yet you call for "dialogue", 

even in the midst of your brutality?

No! ...

No! ...

One word: No!

One demand:

Give us back our Bahrain. 

Return this country to its people; 

to us, its people.

Our Bahrain is ours.

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1Khalifa (Arabic): Prime Minister