Somalia's Future

I am a Man without a Country, I am the most hospitable bum. No credibility, no degree. 
The dirt roads when I was younger raised me. My people... please praise me. 
I am a soul that is empty, hollow like the barrel of a gun. 
I am filled with so much fire inside, so much beauty truly. On the outside I am dark and coal-like. 
I guess you can say I am the Diamond in the rough. I am Patrice, I am Che, I am Martin, I am Malcolm. 
I am all that, but I want to be more. 
Growing up I wanted to be like Mike,
But since I have grown up I want to be like Sallalaahu-Calayhi-Wasallim.
I have dreams to reach farther than my dwellings,
Enough to stir a revolution so the silent majority can start rebelling.
Despite all of the bullet shellings, streets filled with bodies smelling, 
we have endured and survived our doomed foretelling.
Yes our story is very compelling, but all praise is due to Allah for us excelling.
-------------------------

- Hashim
3/22/10

So Close Yet So Distant

So close yet so distant. what used to surround you yesterday now seem so distant even though they never seem to vanish off your rear view mirror.

Staring back, reflecting and blink my eyes to focus on whats ahead on the road.
The images inside the rear view mirror of tragedies untold and small triumphs seem miniscule, but never out of sight.

Yet, there is a longing for those times to resurge and the people and places to come alive to you at your disposal; the fantasy and hope of taking whats good out of those days, and leaving the regrets behind rushes to you as you ponder what could have been.

- Hashim S.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.7.4

Ammi, Madre, Mama, Hooyo

Ammi, Madre, Mama, this is for you Hooyo,
For you we’ll always be so loyal.
Even though you are a Queen, you’re more than royal.
You have done everything to make us the best, your hard work I won’t spoil.
My love for you goes deeper than the earth’s soil, and richer than its oil…..
Oh, the days have come and gone, and the time has flown.
From youth hood to adulthood, you are all we have known.
Your children are now grown, and almost all on their own.
You gave us the freedom to roam as long as we did not do things you would not condone,
If we have hooyo, we will sure soon atone.
Still we leave you not alone,
Your phone is still labeled Home - to show that we still acknowledge your throne.
Your closer to us than our bone, in our hearts you are sewn.
Words can’t describe you, not even thousands of poems.

Hashim S.
12/29/09

Rise Up Africa

I'm not a poet, call me a word mechanic.
Thoughts is trans-atlantic,
At times my words can be frantic; volcanic; sorta schizophrenic.
But I got it under control, dont panic.
Listen up to this 'Afro-America', even if u cant stand it.
Hear it loud and clear.
Open up your ears, free them from suspicion.
Food for thought, take it as nutrition.
I'm not really here to put you at a disposition,
but I can if i have to, if you don't listen.
Its my ambition to break you out of your oh-so comfortable position,
And teach you the current state and history of the this red, white and blue tradition.
Get your pencil and papers out, this schools free of tuition.
They not tellin you what's correct.
Look at the signs and try to connect,
Dont be like the others who try to neglect.
Try to retain dignity and self respect.
Because we've been at the bottom for so long,
Longing for home since Marcus, yeah its definitely been so long.
We reminisce on the days of Mansa and how we used to be so strong.
If you ask me, assimilation has took its toll on the people of the continent.
Without consent, they've erased our cultures and descent.
Kinda funny how through all this torment,
A couple of programs, and all of a sudden we became content.
DISCRIMINATION STILL EXISTS.
RACISM STILL EXISTS.
Ohh... The Lies they invent.
Yeah Barack is President,
Yet...We're still at the bottom like cement,
And STILL get the littlest percent.
We're at the lowest of lows.
We've got to grow.
Out of this concrete like Tupac's rose.
Even in this darkness, our faces still glow.
Every dog has his day is how the saying goes,
I guess no one can have everyday I suppose.
We remain average joe's,
Fit in average clothes,
Oppressed.......
Not like they did to Martin and his protests,
But Somebody should turn the knob, or we'll bust out this hose.
If not, I feel like one day we'll expode.
With the current, like a river...... we should flow.
Joining the ocean to release, cleanse ourselves from our head to our toes.
Clean the blood sweat and tears is a debt to our ancestors that we owe.
People of color need to wake up, it's a nightmare, not a dream.
The American dream is not what it seems.
Unless you want to head to your own mental and spiritual foreclosure,
Don't fall into its scheme.
Try to fight it and they'll label you extreme.
These traps are set to benefit only the corruptest regimes.

- Hashim
12/22/09
Copyright © 2009

Dont call me a Poet

It’s easy to construct words into poems.
It’s easy to assemble thoughts on to paper.
It’s time to turn those same words into action.
Twenty odd years this fire has been burning.
Souls destroyed, dreams shattered,
Children born then are now adults in their own right,
Yet treated as if they are still children mentally,
Even though they don’t look like children physically.
The rifles they carry on their shoulders says differently.
The Youth need a voice or else they will tread into the blind road,
Not knowing the difference of what is good and what is good for right for now.
They take up arms because that is what they have been supplied.
The rifle is the judge, jury, and executioner.
It’s also one of the quickest answers to the problems of life.
They won’t compromise because they don’t know what is right and what is wrong,
They won’t compromise because they need immediate success,
Rather than success built by a foundation for the future.
It is survival of the fittest, leaving the community prone to death and destruction –
Men, women, and children who just want to live life peacefully.
The words of poets agonize me.
I believe in action over words, work over thought.
In retrospect, I do believe that through positive words,
Action can truly be inspired within a person –
The rest is up to the person – to follow through and change the world.