Our People Rose to Fight

The land of my forefathers and its mud
Has been baptized with our martyrs’ blood:
From their sacrifice we receive inspiration;
They lived with love and kind toleration;
They loved their homeland, like a treasure,
A love that nobody could assess or measure.
They were valiant, brave and proud;
But the invaders brought a dark cloud,
And plunged our homeland in dirty slime,
And committed there every type of crime:
They drowned our hearts in deep grief,
From which there was no rest or relief :
Yet, our people rose and began to fight,
And their souls soared towards the light.

by SAMIH AL-QASSIM