October 07

Ana Cedano : A Leftist in Love

I remember falling in love with you when I hit my second decade
I had heard of you before but I didn’t really know you
Then I met you and I quickly became a fan
Loving you for taking a stand
Loving you for trembling with indignation at injustice
Fighting against ‘ism-s’
Colonial
Imperial
and Capital
Putting your money where your mouth is
Totally unafraid
My lovely Che
Hasta siempre, comandante, en la lucha
You spoke to my revolutionary heart
Putting into words and actions my myriad feelings
Standing a la izquierda where I felt most like myself
But
There was a language we didn’t share
An area you failed to reach
That isn’t your fault by any means
And it didn’t minimize what you meant to me
We’re two different people, you see
And I needed something more than esta lucha
And then I met him
I remember falling in love with Husayn when I hit a quarter age
I had heard of him before but I didn’t really know him
Then I met him and I fell
I fell hard
Loving him for taking a stand
And prostrating before The Creator
Sword in hand
Qur’an in his lips
Allah in his heart
Continuing the revolution of the prophets and the righteous
Falling hard for him because Muhammad loved him

And to love Husayn is to love the Rasul…

I remember how you were executed, Che
You told the coward to go ahead and shoot for he is only killing a man
Do you know what Imam Husayn did?
He prayed
He expressed love for his family one final time
He buried his companions
He refused water because they didn’t drink any
He fought valiantly
And he cried out to His Lord in supplication and humility
Don’t misunderstand me, comandante
I’m not trying to compare or belittle you
But you must understand why Husayn reached me in ways you didn’t
I don’t know if you ever heard of him
But I know that if you had you would’ve loved him too
You would have cried when learning of the tragedy
You would have cried when knowing of the thirst
You would have cried when hearing that the heads were paraded around like prizes
You would have trembled with indignation at this grave injustice
And your fist
That infamous fist
Lingering in the air
Instead
Would have hit your chest so hard in pain
I know you would have loved Husayn
Spent your final moments as he had
And loved God as he did
Because loving the Creator so selflessly
So courageously
So steadfastly
That is the greatest act of resistance

¡Que viva la revolución!

 

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This poem originally appeared on the following site: https://anabellatiniya.wordpress.com/2015/11/10/a-leftist-in-love/