.

Salman the Green of Syria

Roamed the streets in search of marifah

Missiles whizzed and whined above his head

Children hid and the skinny street dogs fled.

Salman the Green just stopped and observed the sky

The onlookers thought that he was one crazy guy.

Men with half their faces wrapped in red

Barked coldly: “Get down! Or you’ll be dead!”

They hid and and reappeared in the crumbling alleys

Shouting again to him: “Look out! YAA HAAJI!”

Salman, the Green, looked to the air and then to them

And said: “I’m looking for what’s beguiled all men!”

“You crazy fool!” They cursed: “Get off the street!

If one hits, you’ll be nothing but burnt meat!”

Salman the Green, removed his emerald turban

And showed these men something, a terrible burden.

It was a ring made of burning rotten flesh

The men in red gasped with utter anguish.

“What the hell is that you crazy fool?”

They all yelled, disgusted and confused.

“It is the one and only ring of human desire

Which only can be shred in marifah’s fire,

But I can not carry this ring anymore

Its weight is pushing me beyond the pure.

Shaytan composed this ring so he could wrap it round

The heart of every man in every town

Until the smell of lust had choked their brains

Until the taste of power flowed through their veins

And now they throw their fire from the sky

And women, children, families die.

The only way to end this spiral of hate

Is take this ring through marifah’s gate

And let it incinerate in that raging fire

So let me be, while a search for something higher!”

Some moments passed, the men in red scarves stood

A missile struck a house, the ground nearby shook.

When they looked again, Salman the Green had disappeared

They didn’t find his body as they had feared.

“What the hell was he talking about?” One of them remarked.

No one answered, but just for a while, some felt around their hearts.