Ya Yemen,
you once were a beautiful country
inhabited by
smiling cheshire cats
sitting on long, stretched out tables
drinking chai
and smoking shisha
with their loved ones.
you once were a beautiful country
focusing on expanding
your olive tree population
to sustain your economy
and bring peace
to your land.
Ya Yemen!
you once were a beautiful country
populated with
bricked buildings
outlined with paint
as white as snow
and tiled ground
clean of sin
and packed with men
standing around
performing baraa’
together.
but
what happened?
I enter your city
to see it freshly painted in
red
and chopped up bodies
scattered around
like a puzzle
waiting to be pieced together,
and the smoky buildings,
cracked and broken
by the bombs
thrown around
by those who are ignorant
and reckless.
Which child played with you,
Ya Yemen?
I enter your city
and see your trees
crisped and burnt
to the core
with not a single olive in sight
and your inhabitants,
their smiles,
have vanished, ya Yemen.
their voices,
no longer sing the tunes I remember,
but they shriek
and they cry
hoping somebody would save them,
but everybody seems to
turn their head away
in shame.
I enter your city to see–
Ya Rab,
Why do I see
our own Yemeni brothers
in battle
with their own
brethren?
La hawla wa la quwwata illa billah,
Yemen,
Please tell me what happened.
Graphic created by Anna Syed from images published by Hani Mohammed of the Associated Press and Rod Waddington.