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Poetry / Spoken Word

Free Felasteen

A spoken-word reflection on resilience, loss, humanity and the ongoing suffering in Gaza.

Free Felasteen artwork
The people, they won’t leave.
What is threatening about wanting peace?
They’re destroying every college in Gaza and every mosque,
Pushing everyone into Rafah and dropping bombs.
I say “Free Falasteen” because I know of every massacre they’ve suffered:
the Nakba, Sabra, Shatila, and Rafah.
My people have died a million times in their struggles,
Still they rise from the tides,
Like a rose through the rubble.
They know they can’t shake us,
A billion-dollar sword to the neck.
Death cannot break us,
And every Palestinian refugee holds a key.
One day they will return,
No matter how long it takes us.
You appreciate life when you survive a genocide.
Look in my eyes and tell me what you see.
Ran out of tears to cry, fight ‘til Palestine is free.
Got a problem with a system that doesn’t want them existing,
Turning a city into a prison missing living conditions.
My mom’s calling; she’s telling me she’s kind of scared.
I hear the bombs falling, I smell the death up in the air.
My uncle lost his children; I lost my cousins.
As tears water the graves to let them know he still loves them.
Our schools turn into shelters for the rich and poor.
I just pray for peace.
When I speak, I don’t wish for war.
When will Congress decide a Palestinian’s life is just as precious as an Israeli’s?
We don’t own the earth.
We’re killing each other over some lines in the dirt.
We bleed the same blood, feel the same hurt.
Does Palestinian life have the same worth?
What are you willing to risk? What are you willing to give?
What if you were in Gaza? What if those were your kids?
If the world were pretending that you didn’t exist,
You’d want the world to stand up, and the students finally did.