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Very rare in the annals
of human history
That a trauma so intense
grips a nation
Large tracts of
territory so rapidly lost
Including Jerusalem, the
Sinai and the Golan heights
Stunning defeat of Arab
armies
Overwhelmed by the
lightning blows of Zionist force
The nation collectively
sustained an immense wound
In literally no time
Islam’s holy city was occupied
Dayan celebrated victory
jubilantly weeping at the Wailing Wall
While the umma in its
entirety mourned the city’s fall
Tears, blood and sweat
alas to no avail
An occupation to endure
several decades
Painful imprisonment of
a people and venues of sanctity
Prolongedly but
abortively awaiting redemption
An issue unendingly
placed on the international agenda
Meeting with inexorable
postponement and elusive resolution
Ah! How painful the 1967
event
As though an entire nation, an
entire history, failing a fateful challenge
Is it the stars O Brutus
or destiny’s unkind decrees?
Or a malaise that
festers in the nation’s body?
Needing reform that
destiny becomes kinder
To a nation of glorious
feat and many a towering epic
Bleeding from the dark
event has been enduringly profuse
Shed by all of
Palestine’s children
For you I supplicate O
city where prayers from time immemorial are held
O noblest of minarets
and cathedrals
The hope is that the
bell shall one day toll happily again
As we painfully
memorialize the terrible war of June
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