Poems that matter

Hamad and Ali

Hamad and Ali

Hamad Kalum was a bright young man

Always went outside when he can

His home was in Kabul, a city of shacks

Treats and smells piled in stacks

His mother and father were strong of will

Doing their duties for a life very still

But not all was as it seemed

As war covered the land beyond wildest dreams

The men in black robes came to the stage

A new country born, and another turned page

The war was over with the robed men on top

Five years went by with Hamad playing and running amok

One day, Hamad heard from across the sea

How America was quaking from horrific scenes

Time passed before new armies came

But Hamad's life remained all the same

The foreigners came to take care of things

Retribution or whatever destiny brings

The robed men vanished back to the hills

While Hamad and his friends kicked balls through sills

Soon it was his mother's birthday

Hamad wanted to make sure it was a very good day

The new soldiers were playful when they did not fire guns

Hamad knew where flowers were and had to run

Outside of town he found the poppy fields

Hamad wandered for the best of the yield

Not long after he saw a new flower

Wide and red but of unseen power

Close to the ground with a bud but no stem

Hamad went to pick it, but it left a loud pop

Silence shattered and a crater on top

Hamad was gone in one fowl swoop

Cruel was war for boy and troop

Ali Mahmoud was your average brat

Brought up in luxury by a Homs fat cat

Parties were tasteful and shining silvers gleamed

All while of the future Ali dreamed

He could be a doctor or an oilman too

A young man of destiny had enemies few

One day a crackle turned to a boom

As opposing sides made the city into a giant tomb

Ali and his father had no choice but to leave

Away from their richness and catching their peeve

Two rockets saw off his home and his life

As Ali went with Baba to where the homeless were rife

Out on the trails for pastures new

Away from the war to begin anew

"Where would they go?" the people said

Where the people prosper, to Europe or dead

Across hills and mountains, rivers, and fields

Ali and his father had only their souls to yield

The others were distraught, terrified, and scared

What would Europe hold, how did they fair?

After a rickety ride in a crowded boat

Ali saw the promised land of the Greek coast

From here they went north, where relatives lived

In the land of the bratwurst and money to play with

Train after train, trek after trek

The two came close to Uncle Tarik

Finally, there, at Munich at last

Ali and his father looked back on their past

On their lives of wealth that was gone in a flash

Leaving their homeland to crumble, to be battered and bashed

One day the lost souls will return to their roots

Picking up their lives by the straps of their boots

For Ali, this is home now, and now looking back

To be more humble and kinder were part of his lack

Appreciating what he had and heeding what he had not

He had to choose what he ought

Turning a new leaf was the name of the day

For Ali, compassion was the new way

Copyright © published by CLmauve, 2021.

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