Oh Syria! Your volute history -
Your history so long and tortuous,
Of caliphate, of sultanate and dynasty,
In symbiosis bold and venturous...
With pashas, mongol rulers, Tamberlane,
To famed Aleppo's glorious citadel,
Fierce Turks, Seleucids, and the mongol Khan,
But 'neath Bashar Al-Assad's rule reigns hell.
A province once of proud Imperial Rome,
You built and paved the famed Damascus Road,
(assisting thus the spread of Christendom),
That Paul, Apostle and his saints bestrode.
Tough rulers Ottoman held later sway,
Then Mandates harsh - vicissitude of life,
Uncertain a Republic then gave way
To Party Ba'ath, where cruelty could but thrive.
Your times and eras, once were grim and rough.
But now your children are mowed down like grass,
And now you suffer torment unheard of
With wanton ruthless killing sprees en masse.
Surrounded by the foe on every side
Who is assisted in his killing spree,
In blatant and most coward Genocide,
And yet to be revealed atrocity.
We see your suffering on many a screen,
But bards and wordsmith singers can do nought
'gainst ruthless powers that care not a bean
But kick drained soft drink cans along the road...
While massacres in tandem go and slaughter
Of infant, toddler, adults and young teen,
With no more food, nor shelter, salve and water
And desperate oldsters look out for lost kin.
Oh Syria! - strategic keystone now
For peace or war in the spent Middle-East,
We see your agony and we bow low,
Your great affliction makes you one with Christ.
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