Where Do You Stand?

A poem in solidarity with those struggling for peace

Where do you stand?

Do you stand with us
Or do you stand with them?
Are you for us
Or against us?
We need to position you
Declare yourself!

Came the cry from many sides..
 
Where do I stand?
I stand where we all stand
On the shifting sands beneath us
on the edge
of black rock cracking open
to reveal fire and toxic steam
into which burning bodies, olive trees, broken dreams and twisted ideologies
are cast or fall
 
throw in a small stone
and it will fall so far
that no sound can be heard on impact
 
there is no solid ground
 
all humans are born equal (we were told…)
all die alone
some are forgotten too soon
others raised in glory
 
The flags flying
are pure crimson
with no insignia
for the blood and life lost
amid these power plays
of global divide and rule at its most grotesque
without the people’s consent
 
I will not stand in hate
 
but I will stand
against war, genocide, massacre, ethnic cleansing
against the valuing of one type of human 
over the other
against the taking and making of land so unholy
 
I will stand       for peace
I will stand       for love
I will stand       for justice
 
And I am moved
as mother
and as child I once was
by those parents
by those citizens        from both sides
who unite and stand together still
 
at their shoulders, the spirits of their beloved children
killed at each other’s people’s hands
yet
they come together
in grief, in discomfort, in heartbreak, in solace, in rage
 
an eye for an eye it is said
yet they know
that going blind is no longer an option
 
if they can stand together
beholding each other’s humanity
listen to those with whom they disagree
nestle compassion
work still for reconciliation and dialogue
loosening the ties that bind and strangle each other’s communities
and are now erasing an entire nation
 
if they can stand together
in closing by just a fraction
a widened chasm 
that those in power
constantly profit from

then we can stand
in that groundless place too
 
even as the apocalypse unfolds
we can stand
with the living, with the unborn
 
we can stay
 
we can stay

stay standing

Inspired by the Standing Together movement, The Parents Circle Families Forum and Combattants for Peace.  Top image from The Parents Circle Families Forum website. 
First drafted in November 2023, by Alinah Azadeh