LENI MARLINA'S POEM COLLECTION "THE LAND THAT WILL NEVER FADE"
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On the Torn Land of Palestine
A Poem by Leni Marlina
In the dust-covered olive groves, I stand
Beneath a sky shrouded in shadow,
Where even the moon hides from the wail of guns,
And the night winds carry only the scent of wounds.
This soil, where the steps of my children were once imprinted,
Is now shadowed by tanks and silent walls,
Once green earth, now gasping under the weight of cruelty,
Like olive branches, snapped by ruthless hands.
My eyes hold the faces stolen away,
Like a river fed by endless tears,
In valleys and hills once bright and alive,
Now etched with the cold bitterness of ruin.
I learn from these stones beneath my feet, resolute,
Even as they're trampled by wheels of destruction,
For I am more than a mother engulfed in sorrow;
I am a spirit rooted deeply in Palestine's soil.
When explosions tear the heavens apart,
And houses fall like leaves cut by force,
I keep moving, a small flame lit within my steadfast heart,
And whisper to this land, "We will not perish; we will endure."
Padang, Sumbar, 2023
