Troops Everywhere Poem by Dr. Ahmed Gumaa Siddiek

The troops are everywhere.
Playing with fire
in the streets of Khartoum
the streets of my town

They play the games with the guns,
they shoot at everyone
For mere fun
Machines on their shoulders
They can shoot you down,
For no good reason
But to please their fellow soldiers
Happy to carry out all the orders,
and happy to make the law
They play the judge with grudge.
So, in a minute or two,
they can decide on you
On your whole fate
They don't wait,
for you to make your defence
They decide your on case
To shoot you right down on the face
or break your leg or hand
or may kill you and send your body in the sand
The sand of your own town

The troops…
robbing my town
looting my town
plundering my town
thieving my town
shooting my town
killing, my town
And shouting with joy and victory
as if they are making the whole human history
with their guns, with their guns

And when they sat down to rest,
at the end of the day,
when the kids are out to play
They would think which school to rape
Daring, to rape the whole nation
to make a hole,
In my flesh AND deeply in my soul