Poem: ‘Rooted in Palestine’ – J.Khan

I have sat here for centuries, still and strong.
I watched them work the soil and sing their songs.

There was nothing I could do when they came with hate and bullets
My foundation, my land turned red, as the blood soaked in it

I was left to watch my people flee and I could not follow
My home, so full of beauty, now marred by sorrow

In the distance I see walls and fences, soldiers and fire
I have felt the ground shake with righteous anger and desire

I feel them somewhere in the distance, those hands that tended to me
Whilst I sit here unmoved, like them I am no longer free

I breathe in the defiance of my nation, and I breathe out love
I have felt pride in their strength, as bombs fall from above

I grieve as I feel the earth disturbed with each new grave
I have shed leaves like tears, but stayed silent and brave

Time used to mean so little, but loss had made me understand
I mourn the past, present and future I had hoped for this land

It has been decades without the laughter and voices for which I yearn
I wait here rooted in Palestine, impatient for their return.