God and Goat - Tamim Al-Barghouti

Omar Ibn el Khattab, the prophet’s companion and the Muslims’ second Caliph, known for his legendary justice, once said: If I am told that a goat tumbled in Iraq, I cannot sleep, feeling guilty because I did not level the road for her”


A goat is tumbling in the rubble.
Whenever a goat tumbled in Iraq
Omar could not sleep
For not leveling the road for her.

A goat is tumbling in the rubble
Searching in the remains of the National Museum in Baghdad
For a plant or a document.
To a hungry goat, they make no difference,
Nor do they really differ,
A flower in the rubble documents it,
And a document puts life into the rubble
May be the goat knows better
Let the roads be leveled for her.

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