My mother was ten when she left her home
Hungry, terrified and away from the dome

Her hand holding tight to her mother’s hand
But her brother’s shoe was stuck in the sand

They walked and walked until they collapsed
With scores of people and corpses they’d passed

They remembered Deir Yasin and what happened over there
The innocents were killed, the clothed and the bare

Her father assured her “We’ll be back for your toy,
Your doll, my darling, that brings you smiles and joy”

Her mother has worn the house key around her neck
But in a hurry she forgot her ring on the deck

She thought she’d be back in a week, why the tears?
The weeks became months and the months became years

At twenty she sang me my first lullaby
A refugee I was born but told good-bye

The world has turned its back on us all
Homeless, stateless, a stranger I recall

Your land is sacred, don’t you ever forget
My father would say from the day we first met

Injustice my son is what happened to us
People may ask you what’s all the fuss

You tell them we belong to the land of our fathers
Our witness is history if one simply bothers

Justice is a spring that waters the soul
Stand firm, be strong and the enemy shall fall

My mother would tell me on my wedding day
Our belief in you has not changed in any way

I thanked her and father and kissed her hand
Our struggle is about freedom not merely for land

My son was two when my mother called me
Grandmother’s died, around her neck was the key