My Proudest Song/Poem (A Poem for Yemen)

Writing has always been my huge passion since I was young. Having very few friends during childhood, books were the ones that accompany me through my school years. I loved to get lost in books. I started writing short stories when I was around six. I able to create tiny and beautiful worlds with my pen and it was a kind of joy that delighted my heart. When I was a teenager, I had developed an immense interest in poetry and started to read the works of Walt Whitman, Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, and Sylvia Plath before putting pen to paper to write my own poetry. Every time I write poetry, I feel like I am my true self: raw and vulnerable. There are no filters in my poetry and I am able to project my feeling onto paper better than how I do with words. Most of my poetry stems were from my own inner sadness, I had made it a dream of mine to use my words to help others.

My social life began at UCSI University and this is the place where I found friends for life. I enrolled in university at the young age of seventeen and I was very lucky to meet many kind people along the way. Two of my very first two friends are two Yemeni students, Yahya and Al-Hassan – both of them were my seniors in the chemical engineering program. I had met them both in the prayer room in my hostel. We bonded by sharing our experiences with ongoing conflicts in our countries. As my days in the university progressed, I get the opportunity to know more people from the Yemeni community. Three of my best friends who were Yemen natives helped me integrate into the community. I had strong friendship bonds with my friends and I made it a priority to keep myself updated on everything going on in their lives. It breaks my heart every time when I hear the terrible news of the situation in the homeland as well as how bombs and gunfire were taking the lives of innocents. Although it wasn’t much, I wanted to use my gift of language and poetry to raise awareness of the crisis in Yemen. I wanted to write a song/poem to convey the grief I shared with my friends, their families, and the population of Yemen. Thus, on 18^th December 2020, which is World Arabic Language Day, I put up a song called “Legacy” which was written by keeping the warm-hearted, benevolent, and generous Yemini community in my heart and mind.

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I posted the following statement accompanying the lyrics to my song on my Facebook page.

“One of the best things about being a writer is to be an advocate of the things I believe in. I believe in peace and I have written a song called “Legacy” for my best friends from Yemen and the kind and caring Yemeni community which surrounds me. And I think it’s only fitting that I release this song to the masses after World Arabic Language Day on the 18th. Though I’m not able to express my sentiments in the Arabic language just yet, I’m able to communicate my thoughts in English and I believe it’s actually the message that counts and not the medium.

This song is written to inspire the Yemeni students I know to try hard in their endeavours as they are the ones who’s going to see to the betterment of their country. For your information, the pronoun “I” in the song refers to “Yemen” itself; it’s as if the country’s singing this song to its people, describing the situation of its war-torn state through imagery, metaphors and patriotic “Red, white and black” colours of the Yemeni flag. I hope everyone can appreciate this song.”

“Legacy”

[Intro:]

Been gone for three years

But first tell me how you’ve been

You’ve been working so hard

You’ve been topping everything

But I’m not doing so well now

Not with all the things that I’ve seen

Do what you do best and listen

Let me tell you everything

[Verse 1:]

Gunshots in the air

In the distance, smoke is rising

I lay awake at night

With bombs in the sky and my architecture crumbling

Men are hard to tame

Always rushing into everything

But fighting fire with fire

Won’t solve anything

[Pre-chorus 1:]

I am on fire

It’s getting hot

Men have cried

Their hearts gone soft

[Chorus:]

I never thought I’d see you again but

You are here

I say be strong in the face of fear

Keep the light on; the smoke is thick, nothing’s clear

And remember who you are

You are Yemen, you are Yemeni!

You are Yemen, you are Yemeni!

Bravery is your legacy

You are Yemen, you are Yemeni!

[Verse 2:]

Red, white and black but

My visions are in blue

Take a look at what’s left

I’m no longer a version of myself that you once knew

You say the men up on the news

Put you in such a mood

That’s how life works: there’s a need for war

But there’s no need for the truth

[Pre-chorus 2:]

Our blood is red

But we feel so blue

Dark is our past but

The future is up to you

[Chorus:]

I never thought I’d see you again but

You are here

I say be strong in the face of fear

Keep the light on; the smoke is thick, nothing’s clear

And remember who you are

You are Yemen, you are Yemeni!

You are Yemen, you are Yemeni!

Bravery is your legacy

You are Yemen, you are Yemeni!

[Bridge:]

The dark past of me

Can you bury it in the sea?

Watch me rushing up from the water

Now that I’m finally free

Make sure violence takes its leave

To restore peace is to live your legacy

Now I’m even too tired to dream

Sing me to sleep with your poetry

[Chorus:]

I never thought I’d see you again but

You are here

I say be strong in the face of fear

Keep the light on; the smoke is thick, nothing’s clear

And remember who you are

You are Yemen, you are Yemeni!

You are Yemen, you are Yemeni!

Bravery is your legacy

You are Yemen, you are Yemeni!

[Outro:]

Been gone for three years

But first tell me how you’ve been

You’ve been working so hard

You’ve been topping everything

But I hope you haven’t forgotten who you are

You are Yemen, you are Yemini

You’ve got to live your legacy because

You’re the one who’s going to change everything…

The song is written as Yemen’s cry for help, asking Yemen people to return back when they were educated to help the development of the country and save it from war disaster, bloodshed, and violence. The inspiration for the song came from this line: “You say the men up on the news put you in such a mood, That’s how life works: there’s a need for war But there’s no need for the truth”. I thought of this line while watching my friend’s smile faded as he scrolled through his newsfeed reading up all the horrible happenings in his home country. There still lacking adequate and accurate media coverage discussing the issues of Yemen. Personally, there wasn’t much I could do to alleviate the situation, but he was my best friend and I vowed to support him in any way I could. I wrote this song (and a small record) for him and the Yemeni community when I returned home during my semester break that year. I am not a poet and it wasn’t much but I will do my best to support my loves, their families, and their home country. I wasn’t born and grow in Yemen but my friends are from there and I don’t feel like I am a stranger to their homeland.

It was very heart-warming to witness supportive messages from my friends when I posted the song on Facebook. I didn’t expect such responses but everyone really took the song/poem to heart and I felt like I had accomplished what I expected. During lockdown in the earlier months of 2020, I had put up another poem titled “I took a minute of my time in quarantine” to express my feelings about the children who suffered in the ongoing war in Yemen. I consider it is a tremendous blessing from Allah to enable me to use my gift to raise awareness for the needy and to bring joy to my friends by making them feel less alone and being supported. I feel glad I am able to offer help and support for my friends who always give the best of themselves to me.

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